Research confirms the piracy capital of the world

Caroline Dobson

Epoch Times Staff

Recent U.S. findings are showing similar results to other international research which confirms that !§China is the single largest source!‥ for counterfeit goods.

U.S federal auditors have just released a study on !§Intellectual Property: Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods.!‥ The 41 page document from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated that the actual financial losses, jobs lost and economic impact associated with piracy and counterfeiting is challenging to quantify.

There were some conclusive findings according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, which found that !§seized counterfeit goods are dominated by products from China. During fiscal years 2004 through 2009, China accounted for 77 percent of the aggregate value of goods seized in the United States.!‥ The closest competitor, Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, accounted for 7 percent. India ranked third. It provided just 2 percent. This research reflects a similar conclusion to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an inter-governmental group based in Paris which considered China the number 1 offender when it came to counterfeit products.

However it seems the global financial crises appears to have reached an all time high in terms of piracy of software from Microsoft Corp. and Symantic Corp, according to a Washington-based Business Alliance and Market Research IDC.

Bilateral talks between U.S officials and the Chinese tend to always engage in the issue of piracy, considering that the black market for from counterfeit DVDs, software to luxury items such as golf clubs appear rampant and operate in broad daylight. At times there are even movies being sold without reaching cinemas yet.

Software Piracy

The industry research group, Business Alliance and Market Research IDC!|s report indicates that personal computer sales have dwindled, combined with consumer education and enforcement efforts, which had a spill-over effect of a drop in piracy in 54 of 111 countries. However the growth of PC sales in China, India and Brazil spurred global piracy to rocket to 43 percent of all installed software, up 2 percentage points from 2008. The rate is equivalent to a value of $51.4 billion in goods, when the volatility of exchanges rates are factored, it seems this amount is relatively unchanged from the year earlier.

Software piracy !§continues to have significant repercussions on both the global economy and national economies,!‥ Robert Holleyman, chief executive officer of the software trade group, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Unlicensed software allows !§companies in high piracy markets to compete unfairly against companies in low piracy markets like the U.S. that are paying for their software.!‥

The headache for software manufacturers remains concentrated in China, with an estimated 80 percent of Chinese computer users are supposed to be using pirated copies of Microsoft Windows. Ironically, Microsoft was banned from selling all its PC operating systems in China. The centrally controlled Beijing!|s No.1 Intermediate People!|s Court ruled against the U.S. based company because it violated copyright restrictions regarding a particular character font.

Apple!|s bootlegged products in China

After launching its tablet PC iPad recently, Apple Inc would have also discovered its latest innovation on the online and traditional retailers in mainland China. Apple!|s initial hurdle was to ensure supply met demand in the U.S., which subsequently delayed the IPad!|s international debut . However it seems consumers who were in the market for counterfeit versions of the latest technology could easily locate such products on the border of Hong Kong in Shenzhen the southern Chinese city infamous for finding a fake branded products.

!§China is basically a market that has the ability to clone everything, so it!|s really not surprising,!‥ said Edward Yu, chief executive of Beijing-based researcher Analysys International in an interview Reuters.

Life threatening knock offs

From knock off medications to pet food China has been the culprit behind many scandals, wherever the toxic products have reached causing injuries and death to humans and pets. Given that the results have been so detrimental, accountability has been a gaping shortfall. Recently in Britain, more than 1,500 customers will be sharing compensation of $29 million ( ￠G20 million) had purchased !￥toxic!| sofas manufactured in China, contained the antifungal chemical DMF !X dimethyl fumarate, which has now been banned by the European Union !X which prevented the furniture from moulding. Many victims from infants to the elderly suffered serious burns, eye problems and breathing issues. Around 100,000 such leather ensembles were sold in Britain.

Moreover after unsuccessful appeals in China, eight parents of children sickened by melamine-tainted milk manufactured by China!|s Sanlu Group went to Hong Kong where they filed the first case against Sanlu overseas. According to attorney Peng, Sanlu had filed for bankruptcy and was not liable for compensation. Recently they found that Sanlu!|s second largest shareholder, the New Zealand- based Fonterra Group, is registered in Hong Kong, and they decided to come to Hong Kong to file a lawsuit. The amount of compensation they seek is not high, and hence they filed the lawsuit at the Small Claims Tribunal. Their case was accepted on April 8.

Melamine-laced milk powder has been one of the biggest and most tragic toxic food scandals in China to date. Melamine is an industrial chemical that makes milk appear to have higher protein content. The milk powder was sold widely in China and caused tens of thousands of children to fall ill with kidney-related problems.