President Hu's Visit Series: Doom for Piracy?
by Li Mu
Pirated products will remain, unless most people in China think as seriously as President Hu before buying pirated CDs at street corners. The only unlikely alternative is when the prices of these original products can be, at least, as competitive as those pirated ones.
It's not the first time our president has given emphasis to intellectual property protection. The banner of "enhancing original innovation capacity" has been waving for years before he made his speech during his stay at the mansion of Bill Gates yesterday. And still people carry pirated Louise Vuitton handbags, spray pirated Hugo Boss, read pirated Harry Potter, and watch pirated Brokeback Mountain.
Complaints from American officials and businessman are overwhelming, but they do not reduce the temptation of lower prices. In fact, most people who do not have clean shopping records know that piracy is not only damaging the interest of giant international corporations such as Microsoft, but also blocking the growth of industries at home. Now and then, domestic publishers and music companies launch propaganda campaigns against pirating rivals, yet pirated products hardly experience shrinking markets.
It is not as if our government has been ignoring the rampant piracy at home. The recent anti-piracy regulation demanding PC manufacturers to set up original editions of operating system software is only a small part of government efforts to battle against piracy industries across the country. Since the patent law was issued in 1999, there has been a string of government policies on tramping down pirated products. These policies do have an impact on pirated products, but only for a limited time and in limited areas. At different times in Beijing, pirated CDs seem to become extinct, only to flourish on every street corner a short while later. Officials could close down shops selling pirated products, but they face more challenges from rampant street vendors and internet sellers.
The biggest dilemma facing our government is that the vast piracy-consuming market will not simply evaporate even when all piracy producers are gone. How to handle millions of piracy-oriented consumers when it seems that bans will only make piracy more popular? One way is to push for lower prices among producers who have paid higher costs. And that amounts to economic suicide to some of them.
With all the difficulties considered, and having reserved full optimism in our government's strong measures enforcing patent law, we only have to adjust to our life without pirated CDs and handbags when the doom of piracy really comes. What if there comes another censored Hollywood blockbuster like Brokeback Mountain? Well, that could be another problem.
Pirated products will remain, unless most people in China think as seriously as President Hu before buying pirated CDs at street corners. The only unlikely alternative is when the prices of these original products can be, at least, as competitive as those pirated ones.
It's not the first time our president has given emphasis to intellectual property protection. The banner of "enhancing original innovation capacity" has been waving for years before he made his speech during his stay at the mansion of Bill Gates yesterday. And still people carry pirated Louise Vuitton handbags, spray pirated Hugo Boss, read pirated Harry Potter, and watch pirated Brokeback Mountain.
Complaints from American officials and businessman are overwhelming, but they do not reduce the temptation of lower prices. In fact, most people who do not have clean shopping records know that piracy is not only damaging the interest of giant international corporations such as Microsoft, but also blocking the growth of industries at home. Now and then, domestic publishers and music companies launch propaganda campaigns against pirating rivals, yet pirated products hardly experience shrinking markets.
It is not as if our government has been ignoring the rampant piracy at home. The recent anti-piracy regulation demanding PC manufacturers to set up original editions of operating system software is only a small part of government efforts to battle against piracy industries across the country. Since the patent law was issued in 1999, there has been a string of government policies on tramping down pirated products. These policies do have an impact on pirated products, but only for a limited time and in limited areas. At different times in Beijing, pirated CDs seem to become extinct, only to flourish on every street corner a short while later. Officials could close down shops selling pirated products, but they face more challenges from rampant street vendors and internet sellers.
The biggest dilemma facing our government is that the vast piracy-consuming market will not simply evaporate even when all piracy producers are gone. How to handle millions of piracy-oriented consumers when it seems that bans will only make piracy more popular? One way is to push for lower prices among producers who have paid higher costs. And that amounts to economic suicide to some of them.
With all the difficulties considered, and having reserved full optimism in our government's strong measures enforcing patent law, we only have to adjust to our life without pirated CDs and handbags when the doom of piracy really comes. What if there comes another censored Hollywood blockbuster like Brokeback Mountain? Well, that could be another problem.
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