[LINK] Microsoft on edge about piracy in Asia

[Michael Lean]

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Linkers,
Ms. Bostick observes that the cost of violating IP rights is "not that 
high". Obviously a lot less than buying the genuine product. One would 
think that the way to decrease "piracy" (I dislike that term) would be to 
reduce the price of the genuine article to the point where it's no longer 
worthwhile to make dodgy copies.
Perhaps they have an interest in being the victims of piracy, as it gives 
them the leverage to argue for more draconian IP protection.
Just a thought.
cheers,
Mike


SOFTWARE PIRACY IN ASIA
Microsoft senior corporate attorney Katherine Bostick says that software
piracy is increasing throughout the world and especially in Asian countries
such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. "It involves
organized crime," says Bostick. "When you are dealing with high-end
counterfeits, you are talking about organizations that have a full supply
chain, a full distribution chain, full manufacturing tools all in place,
and it is all based on profits." How bad is the situation? "Two out of five
business software applications were pirated in 2001, which is the second
consecutive year that the piracy rate has increased." And why is it
happening? "Right now, the cost of violating intellectual property rights
is not that high. There is really no penalty for that major person and they
will be right back in business the next day or the next month."
(Reuters/San Jose Mercury News 23 Oct 2002)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4350115.htm

Michael M. Lean JP (Qual)
University Copyright Officer
Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University
Brisbane, Australia
Phone 07 3864 4024  Fax 07 3864 1823  Mobile 0438 589 181
CRICOS No. 00213J

...the raison d'etre of the web, both in its  utopian and capitalist 
manifestations, is the click; to resist the click is to resist the web. Who 
would want to do a thing like that?
Keith Gessen  "The New Write"  in The Australian 30/5/01
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