The Bush administration on Wednesday announced new plans to expand its crackdown on intellectual-property infringement overseas.
During California visits with high-tech and movie industry representatives, Commerce Department secretary Carlos Gutierrez described two new programmes aimed at eroding intellectual property infringement, which the department claims costs US businesses $250bn (£138bn) and 750,000 jobs per year.
"The protection of intellectual property is vital to our economic growth and global competitiveness, and it has major consequences in our ongoing effort to promote security and stability around the world," he said.
One programme would place intellectual property experts on the ground in regions where infringement is considered a concern. There they would work with overseas US businesses and native government officials to advocate improved intellectual-property rights protection, according to a department fact sheet.
Experts will be sent to Brazil, India, Russia, Thailand, China and the Middle East and serve a five-year tour of duty, the fact sheet said. One such expert is already on the job in Beijing, but it was unclear when the others would be dispatched or who they would be.
Another programme, called the Global Intellectual Property Rights Academy, would train foreign judges, enforcement officials and other stakeholders in international intellectual property "obligations" and best practices. The academy, overseen by the US Patent and Trademark Office, plans to convene in 24 sessions in 2006, paying all travel expenses for the foreign participants, who will come from many of the same areas where experts will be working.
The Commerce Department has recently taken other actions intended to combat international intellectual-property infringement. In July, President Bush created within the department a senior-level position — the coordinator for international intellectual-property enforcement. The department also plans to continue holding small-business outreach seminars nationwide.
The Business Software Alliance was quick to applaud the announcement. In a press release, the organization cited survey results that pegged rates of usage of unlicensed software at 90 percent in China, 87 percent in Russia, 74 percent in India, 70 percent in Thailand, 64 percent in Brazil and 58 percent in the Middle East.
"In all those countries, there's a long history of bilateral discussions on IPR issues," said Robert Holleyman, chief executive of BSA. "So I think they will be very receptive to getting on-the-ground systems to help with this effort."
Holleyman said he hoped the programmes would ultimately raise revenue for US companies and resellers selling in foreign markets and for companies native to those markets.
Talkback
Typical of the US to use the heavy handed approach.
Why do they think the local authorities turn a blind eye to piracy? Perhaps because they know their economy can't handle the royalty fees!
Lower fees and easier compliance rules would encourage broader compliance and therefore a larger pool and lower policing costs.
Royalty payments should also be reduced over time so emerging economies can easily and cheaply take advantage of technology - even if it isn't the latest generation.
now listen up boys and girls
we need to suck the BSA, MPAA and RIAA's balls
A virtual product being duplicated does not equal lost money for a company. Journalists would do well to keep in mind that anyone that says this is merely twisting information to suit their interests.
Here we go again big boy yankeeies trying to tell the rest of the world we own you well listen up FRELL YOU screw you and your we own everything ideas you own NOWT and 99.9% of what M$ Corp claims to be theres is actually STOLEN pas this to the dickheads in charge ..
Great, now the rest of the world can enjoy the same freedom-eroding laws that we enjoy here in the U.S.. I think this quote sums up the situation in the U.S., and with this, perhaps many other places soon:
"And thank young Jon Johansen for having the chops and courage to release software that lets you remove the DRM from your iTunes music.
If he lived in the USA, he'd be in prison today. Luckily he lives in a free country"
- (http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1905)
I find it somewhat disturbing that the US is trying to enforce laws in foreign countries, even if they use local authorities to do so.
I believe that this is more of a problem than the piracy they are trying to combat.
Just more proof that the US currently has the best government that money can buy...
Fucking Americans. So their WONDERFUL patent system is just so great that they have to force it onto the world at gunpoint, eh?
"Experts will be sent to Brazil, India, Russia, Thailand, China and the Middle East"
I hope the 'experts' get lynched, dismembered, shat upon and mailed collect to the White House.
The netizens are aware about the rampant "piracy and IPR violation" of major IT products all over the world. This piracy or infringement cannot be curbed or controlled unless there is a combined effort to eliminate these nuisances at the “local level”. The setting up of committee for limited period will not serve the purpose. Let the countries manage their own affairs in an indigenous manner. The social, economic and political conditions of each country are different from US and it will not be wise ideas to super impose US standards for other countries. Let the local enforcement mechanism take care of this situation. It would be better to suggest different IP policies for different nations that suit the requirements of both the nations availing the IP benefits and the IP holders.
I heard about the "dumbing down of America" somewhere. Without doubt such a thing has happened. But it now looks like the people most affected are the very same government officials in the white house, congress and pentagon.
If you announce a Intellectual Property Inquisition, the only thing you will wind up is with extra hate and fear mongering. At least one will be most effectice in scaring people who are able to _CREATE_ Intellectual Property away, to e.g. Canada, New Zealand, Europe.
In our small country The Netherlands we are also harmed by a Government who seems to be dumbed down itself. One can see that by the excessive use and abuse of street bumps in local neighborhoods, which only scares people away who can afford $50,000.= cars or higher. Its all measures, regulations en law enforcements which create the opposite effects, and scare big money away.
Robert
you anti-American people are the problem.
here's a solution: not let the US export *any* more software to your countries. screw you.
go write your own programs. oh, that's right; you're not capable of that. you have to steal it instead. then whine when the US talks of enforcing anti-theft laws.
let's also take away your internet connection and let you create your own internet. oh - you can't do that, either. again, not capable of such an undertaking.
you deserve to be in the dark ages, not part of the global community you've been made a part of - without thanks. if it was the US stealing your software, you would be crying for justice, just as they are.
Dear US Backer, if the US is so ahead of the game then why did they embark on a project called Echelon? You know, the one designed to steal whatever from non-English speaking countries and favour US businesses in particular.
As for the US global intellectual-property plan. Haven't the flaws and risks in the US intellectual-property system been pointed out enough already? What country (that can't be bought) would want to implement that without changing a dozen other national (ground) laws as well? And why would they give US companies such an enormous head start over their own (local) companies?
Wouldn't it be far more easier if every country in the world simply pays some sort of tax to the US?
Oh heck, we already do that. Indirectly, but still.
I wonder what would happen if the plug was pulled on that.
Arthur B. -
this discussion is not about being ahead of another country. it's about taking the initiative to create something internally. and, if your country is not willing to embark on something legitimately, then make sure that it's citizens are not common thieves enforce the local laws - these people know they're breaking the law when they pirate software; they're not dumb. are you really trying to defend someone pirating software?
Echelon does not belong in this discussion; that's an NSA project that deals with national intelligence. unless you're going to advance some theory that Echelon stole source code from some poor underdeveloped (non-english speaking) country and then gave it to Microsoft to bring it to the market first.
what local laws would have to be changed? are there local laws that say "it's OK to steal. pirate software at will." simply enforce the laws. their own local companies apparently aren't willing to come up with their own products.
i'm not sure what this global tax is that you're referring to. there's no tax paid on something stolen, so your comment about pulling the plug on that is baseless.
if your job depended on your company selling software that you developed, and you knew it was being stolen by some other country who turned a blind eye to it, you would want justice.
Dear US Backer,
I didn't start the "your country needs my country because your country basicly sucks and is full of thieves as well" bullshit contest. Someone else did.
Also I don't agree well with companies that first have a policy to allow pirated software because it helps crushing the competition to then, some years later, whine about how much dreamed up revenue they're missing out on. How about taking responsibiliy for your own actions first, eh? Clean up your own mess and all that.
If you want to protect your intellectual-property rights in country A then by all means make use of the relevant laws of that country and the (legally allowed) technology available to you. What you don't do is cook up some foony figures and push that country A should adopt country B laws to solve a problem you helped create. That's like wanting someone else to do your dirty work for you.
Echelon was used to intercept lucrative contracts in the making that involved companies situated in non-English speaking countries and pass that information on to certain companies in English speaking countries so they had a headstart and insight information leading to lucrative advantages for them at the expense of others. This has been on the EU agenda and all. Strange that the US, so far ahead in the eyes of some, needed to resort to such practices.
Certain countries will have to adjust certain local laws to make the US announced global intellectual-property plan work in full. This is so obvious that I don't care to explain it any further.
Maybe not in the eyes of some that seem to think that local laws that allow the use of illegally pirated software might actually exist.
The global tax I'm referring to is the so called Microsoft tax (in response to your, quote, 'screw you', unquote, and other comments). The same Microsoft which happens to be a strong (co)funder of pushing the US software patent system and laws into a worldwide spanning reality. The real reasons for that are best known by themselves I gather. Fact is that what Microsoft wanted to happen in the EU was booted out. Very convinient that the US is now announcing a global intellectual-property plan.
As for jobs depending on software innovation protection laws, don't worry, already taken well care of by means of copyright laws and such. What's still lacking though are enough solid and quickly enforced anti-monopoly abusing laws.
Arthur B;
read all the posts prior to my first one. my "screw you" comments are to those people who are simply anti-American. by the way, i never said i was an American; you're implying that.
( however, i have a suspicion that you are indeed a left-wing liberal American, who probably voted for John Kerry. just my suspicion based on your rhetoric. )
your statement about companies that have a policy to allow piracy....come on. that's not realistic; you have no internal knowledge of an "policy"; that's just more rhetoric. MS can make no money on pirated software; i'm sure they would have rather sold all that software that was pirated. it's ridiculous to think there's a "policy" that says otherwise.
i now see where your Echelon info is coming from; the EU. an anti-American slanted EU is not a credible source of something as covert as Echelon. you need to do your research on that topic more thoroughly.
read the article again; point out where it says that the focus is to change local laws. that's not mentioned anywhere; no matter how "obvious" you're making it out to be. sending people on site to encourage them to enforce anti-piracy laws does not require them to make their laws match ours verbatim.
in your last paragraph you stated that there are copyright laws in place; exactly! they're not being enforced. what do you think this whole initiative is about? enforce the laws in place. this isn't rocket science. the anti-US people who first posted are mad because the US wants foreign countries to enforce copyright laws that are *in place*, not create new duplicate-US laws.
do you see this yet? (there should be a light coming on soon...). you are probably the most intelligent poster here; surely you can grasp this concept of enforcing what's already in place?
"you anti-American people are the problem."
Most people I know aren't anti-American. They've just lost a whole lot of respect for you since you voted in Bush. And then a whole lot more when you voted him in again! And we lose a bit more respect for Bush every time he sells out to another corporation.
"There's a solution: not let the US export *any* more software to your countries. screw you."
Good. In case you hadn't noticed, the software that people get most worked up about happens to be American.
"go write your own programs. oh, that's right; you're not capable of that. you have to steal it instead. then whine when the US talks of enforcing anti-theft laws."
Don't be ridiculous. Who can ever compete with Microsoft when they have more money than God?
"let's also take away your internet connection and let you create your own internet. oh - you can't do that, either. again, not capable of such an undertaking. "
Er, a lot of the basic infrastructure that we call the Internet was invented in Switzerland by an Englishman, just as much of it was invented in the US. The US certainly didn't "create" the internet. Let's just let that one go.
Anyway, what happens if the countries in question refuse to let the US inspectors in? There's certainly no reason they should allow them. So do the US invade at that point looking for pirate WMDs (Windows Mass Distributions)?
Steve J:
"Er, a lot of the basic infrastructure that we call the Internet was invented in Switzerland by an Englishman <snip>"
oh, i always wondered who that "Darpa" guy was. huh. i guess he was a bloke like us. that's good to know.
the www was created by a CERN employee. the internet is not the www. the US's DARPA created the internet.
go here and learn:
http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~c9814405/cp2014/howwastheinternetinvented.htm
http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_summary.htm
http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/history/inventedweb.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blinternet.htm
etc. etc. etc. you can do a google search as easily as i can.
i *did* like your WMD joke. that was pretty funny.
So now we have to export our ignorange,what a dumb thing that is. I lived in the Philippines,so far they have a great system,no thanks to us.
If they succeed they will be just as dumb as we are. We do well to leave the rest of the world alone. I'd be most disappointed if that were to happen. I have family there and it would be very hard on them.
As it is, I'm very upset at what's going on and they are examing our system and the students have been asking me about our current system. I'll will not lie to them.
I love my country,but I will not stand while they try to export this nonsence.
I hope others will make their feelings know to our leaders so that perhaps this can be stopped in it's tracks
If the posters on this board could put aside their blinding hatred of all things American for just a few seconds, they would realize that effective laws protecting intellectual property in countries where high tech business is booming (China, India, Singapore, Taiwan, etc.) will actually help those countries attract business, which in turn will result in additional high-paying jobs and tax revenues.
It seems to me that the America haters would want to see these countries take jobs and revenues away from U.S.-based companies. In order for that to happen, U.S. companies will have to be comfortable in investing in these countries. And as Indira Gandhi said, "You can't shake hands with a clenched fist."
For many people around the world, the hatred and jealousy of America is so strong and self-destructive that if the U.S. came up with a cure for every disease known to man, they would sooner spit in the face of the U.S. than shake its hand.