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China piracy cost U.S. firms $48 billion in 2009: report
Customers use computers at an internet cafe in Hefei, Anhui province, January 25, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
BIG SKY, Montana |
BIG SKY, Montana (Reuters) - Chinese piracy and counterfeiting of U.S. software and a wide range of other intellectual property cost American businesses an estimated $48 billion in 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission said in a report released on Wednesday.
It also concluded 2.1 million jobs could be created in the United States if China complied with its current international obligations to protect and enforce intellectual property rights. The most direct jobs impact would come in high-tech and other innovative industries.
The report, requested last year by top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, gives the Obama administration additional ammunition to press Beijing for better protections.
More than $26 billion of the losses came from the information and service sector and more than $18 billion came from the high-tech and heavy manufacturing sector in addition to billions more from other sectors, the report said.
"China's unfair practices cost the U.S. billions of dollars and millions of jobs," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said in a statement as top U.S., Chinese and other Asia Pacific trade officials gathered in his home state of Montana for an annual meeting.
"Time and time again, China has failed to protect and enforce American intellectual property rights, and it continues to discriminate unfairly against American businesses. We cannot pretend that there aren't real consequences to these violations when these numbers show that millions of American jobs are on the line," Baucus said.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Sandra Maler)
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Lower the time limits on patent rights. Put a limit on the profit from ideas (especially ideas that can be used to educate and raise the standard of living for the world’s poor). Most of the time the education occurred at public expense, public roads were used, public books, public police protected them etc.. Why charge society so much, when they (the inventors) have been assisted with tax dollars in bringing forth the ideas? We provided the springboard in many ways.
Pirating software that assists in bringing the education of your fellow man to a higher level should bring a Nobel Peace prize, not a jail sentence. Pirating knowledge and software of medical breakthroughs and methods ought to be awarded not punished.
Let freedom ring? Start with educational freedom. Low cost software platforms that allow the freedom to improve and expand programs need to be allowed. Didn’t our own court system just prevent hundreds of thousands of books from being put on line in a digital form? This is an injustice to every child in the world seeking a better education.
Thank goodness for any countries that ignore our antique rules and laws meant to keep people ignorant (educationally) throughout the world. Americans should be ashamed of their selves for aligning with this foolish suppression of basic human rights. Especially in the field of educational/multimedia software, when the best teachers and teaching methods can be shared with those less fortunate by having a cell tower and cheap computer tablet nearby.
Lower the time limits on patent rights. Put a limit on the profit from ideas (especially ideas that can be used to educate and raise the standard of living for the world’s poor). Most of the time the education occurred at public expense, public roads were used, public books, public police protected them etc.. Why charge society so much, when they (the inventors) have been assisted with tax dollars in bringing forth the ideas? We provided the springboard in many ways.
Pirating software that assists in bringing the education of your fellow man to a higher level should bring a Nobel Peace prize, not a jail sentence. Pirating knowledge and software of medical breakthroughs and methods ought to be awarded not punished.
Let freedom ring? Start with educational freedom. Low cost software platforms that allow the freedom to improve and expand programs need to be allowed. Didn’t our own court system just prevent hundreds of thousands of books from being put on line in a digital form? This is an injustice to every child in the world seeking a better education.
Thank goodness for any countries that ignore our antique rules and laws meant to keep people ignorant (educationally) throughout the world. Americans should be ashamed of their selves for aligning with this foolish suppression of basic human rights. Especially in the field of educational/multimedia software, when the best teachers and teaching methods can be shared with those less fortunate by having a cell tower and cheap computer tablet nearby.
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