Early this year, Microsoft won a Chinese court case over pirated software used by a local insurance company. This lawsuit was Microsoft’s first against a large Chinese company for copyright infringement involving its software. For years, the pirated Windows system in China is sold for 5 RMB for each copy and it works well, but the legal copy will be more than 3,000 RMB. This totally gives Microsoft a punch in the face. However, software privacy is not the most serious problem in China now, rather, it is the DVD or music piracy.
Piracy has been a serious problem in China for a very long time (maybe long enough not to be regarded as a problem anymore). Chinese government has had a very tough and never-win battle with piracy. So, who is responsible and whose fault is it?
To those customers,
The cheapest price for a laptop in China is less than 3,000 RMB which equals to the price of a legal copy of Windows (not included in MS Office which is about the same price as Windows). The totally cost of software will be much more than buying a laptop; however, it is unacceptable according to Chinese people’s philosophy. Moreover, if one’s laptop is attacked by virus, it is very convenient and easy to reinstall Windows system by a pirate copy.
Another situation is about DVD or music in China. The average price for the movie tickets in China is about 60 to 90 RMB while the illegal copy is about 5-10 RMB (if download from Internet, it will be free) and the quality is usually very good (DVD-9 format or even Blue-ray). Additionally, due to the censorship in China, there are tons of good movies not allowed to be on show in theaters. It seems those pirate DVDs are the only access to those movies or music.
To those street vendors,
If you take a walk in Shanghai at night, you will find those people carrying a big black suitcase, standing in the corner of the street. And if you walk close to them, they will ask you if you want some illegal DVDs or software. I thought before that they made a lot of money by standing there all day but I was wrong. After talking to one of those vendors, I knew that they only earn less than 1 RMB (about 15 cents US dollars) for each DVD they sell, and they have to stand in great sunshine in the summer and strong wind in the winter all day. However, now in China, there are more and more DVD stores. It is really interesting, because almost all the DVD stores have a back room where you can find thousands of pirated DVDs and CDs. If the police come, they just close the door to the back room, so easy!
To those pirated DVD providers,
This group of people seems to benefit most from the piracy market. Their knowledge about pirating is updated enough; once there is a new movie on show no matter wherever in the world, less than 10 days later, there must be pirated DVDs in street. Also, no matter how software companies even Microsoft build passwords or keys, they can always figure out how to break them. Their capability to do this is totally based on the demand of customers and domestic market in China. However, the interesting thing is neither do they get a lot of money from this business. Some of them even volunteer to do this risk-taking job.
To Chinese government,
Chinese government has put tons of endeavors to crack down piracy market; however, as I said before, it is a never-win battle. March 15th every year in China is the Anti-Piracy Day. On that day, there are lots of news reports on TV about the local government burn fake clothes or crack thousands of illegal DVDs. Nevertheless, I wonder what the point to have these reports on show is, they change nothing!
Piracy problem in China is nothing but a dilemma. No doubt, piracy hurts a lot people and business, however, if it is completely cracked, more people will be hurt. How to find a solution and what the solution will be seems very difficult to predict!
Thanks for sharing your perspective on piracy in China, Skylar. I think this really illustrates the point made in class and in the readings about the conflict between the right of authors to derive benefit from their intellectual property, vs the right of consumers to access these cultural goods, which they would not be able to afford at market value. It can be easy for Westerners and other privileged people to dismiss these claims - after all, there is no inherent "right" to watch Leonardo diCaprio drown in the North Atlantic. However, when the situation is transposed to other intellectual property, the claimed right becomes much more apparent. For example, the World Trade Organization ruled several years ago that developing countries like India and Brazil could legally break patent laws to produce generic HIV/AIDS medication for their people. The right of pharmaceutical companies to derive a profit (and of scientists to earn a salary commensurate with their experience and work) has to be balanced with the right of less privileged people, through their governments, to access life-saving medication. I think it can reasonably be argued that these two situations (HIV/AIDS drugs vs. Titanic DVDs) are different enough that the comparison doesn't stand, but there are also valid sides to the argument, as well, particularly where it it's not blockbusters but business software that are involved, as access to these copyright-protected technologies can have a huge effect on social and economic development.
ReplyDelete