James Mendenhall, general counsel of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in Beijing last week: that the United States may file a Complaint with the World trade organization, if Chinas government does not take affirmative action against violations of intellectual property.
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"If we were to conclude that the dispute settlement is the best solution in dealing with China, we will not shy away from that," Mendenhall said during a lunch hosted by the U.S. business community in Beijing. Mendenhall was in Beijing for three days of talks with Chinese officials over intellectual-property rights and other issues, including removing trade barriers to foreign auto parts. U.S. officials and lawmakers say rampant piracy is contributing to the nation's surging trade deficit with China. |
The report went on to say that Microsoft claimed losing as much as $60 billion a year because of the abundance of fake goods worldwide. It was also reported that a staggering 90 percent of software used in China is pirated, according to researcher IDC and the Business Software Alliance (funded by Microsoft). They went on to say that DVD copies of Hollywood movies sell openly on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai for as little as $1 apiece.
Source: Philly.com
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Piracy should be the least of the US concerns if human rights means as much as they claim it does (yet still gives China a Most Favored Nation status).
Therefore.. if there were no pirated copies, they wouldn't be selling 60 billion dollars worth of copies, because there wouldn't be the extra funds for people to buy them at actual legitimate prices.
I'd say if 60 billion dollars worth of dvd's were sold mesuring them at actual market value, they they probably on really lose a few hundred million in actual sales, because people don't actually have all that much money to buy alot of copies at actual cost.
[edited by applegodel8 on 07.03.2006 05:23]
