Copyright Infringement
01/02/2009Copyright infringement and piracy are acts much more commonly committed than caught by officials, especially in countries where the economy seems to thrive with street vendors selling the latest movies - even before they're released in theaters. This week in Shenzhen, China, 11 people were convicted of violating national copyright laws and taking part in an organized counterfeiting ring that produced and sold pirated Microsoft software in over 30 countries on five continents. This piracy ring had been tracked since 2001 by Microsoft's anti-piracy team, and the FBI joined in the surveillance four years later, cooperating with Chinese officials. Although Microsoft and the FBI estimate the value of the confiscated material at $2 billion and hundreds of millions of dollars, respectively, the court in Shenzhen concluded that the suspects' software sold overseas for less than
$200,000.
The sentences have been proclaimed the longest yet in China for this sort of crime, and range from one and a half to six and a half years. This set of convictions is likely to be only one of a series that shall occur in China (as well as other countries) over the course of the next few years. There is a similar case pending in Shanghai, in which the nine suspects are accused of counterfeiting Microsoft and Symantec software.
But how do copyright infringement busts in China affect those of us in the States? How does counterfeit material that sells for considerably less than the real version harm the industry? When the counterfeited material does not work as well as the real version, it is the consumer, who made the decision to purchase the software - probably cognizant of the fact that it was counterfeit - who loses, while the individual who copied, produced, and distributed the material makes a small profit by selling the material for significantly less than the official producers and distributors. Some, like Matt Asay in a December 16th CNet article, suggest that Windows piracy and the prominence of counterfeit Microsoft products is slowing the growth of Linux, a less popular operating system.
In December the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) filed eight lawsuits against distributors of pirated software on several online auction sites, including eBay. These are the first suits the SIIA has filed against users of eBay, and the SIIA may not be finished considering a suit against eBay itself. However, it is not just software that people replicate and sell on the Internet. Much of the pirated material online is available for free download.
2008 saw yet another backslide for the music industry, with album sales reaching 428.4 million units, according to Nielsen. This is, without a doubt, due to the increase in digital downloads, a portion of which being illegal downloads. In the last eight years, album sales have fallen from the industry's highest point in 2000 of 785.1 million units. However, according to a January 1st article from Reuters, overall music sales including digital sales went up 10.5 percent from last year, indicating that despite the music industry's harsh actions in previous years towards eradicating piracy, people are still paying for albums, singles, and downloads; buying trends are changing to stay abreast of the major changes technology has brought to our lives.
In December 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that it was stopping all future copyright infringement lawsuits. It had been involved in an years long campaign of suing individuals, largely college students, for using file sharing technology to share music. While the lawsuits had intimidated many such students and others into not downloading music from friends and others, it also was a huge public relations nightmare for the industry. Despite the lawsuits, the industry continued to see a steady decline in CD purchases. They finally relented to the business side of the industry in announcing a stop to suing its own customers.
The future of software piracy is vague. As long as the technology is available, people will continue to copy digital material they enjoy so they can share it others (sometimes for a fee). But copyright laws are in place for a reason, and violating those laws is a crime. It is up to the consumer to make responsible choices and purchases so the right parties get their kudos for creating such great material, but there will always be impostors. Caveat emptor.
