USA launches two formal complaints against China and its piracy laws
Written by Andreas G 11 April 2007 12:23

China is one of the countries producing and distributing the most pirated material and illegal product replicas. USA has been trying to discuss the matter with China for more than six months now, without any real improvement, and is new fed up with it. USA has launched two formal complaints against China. USA will discuss these two with China during the World Trade Organization in Geneva and it comes down to the China's handling of pirated American products. USA accuses China of setting a way too high bar for what counts as a piracy crime, which has led to that very little is done stop the illegal copying and the distribution of this material.

At the same time, USA is pressuring China to change its ways for it handles the legal importing of movies, books, music and software; it's simply way too slow according to the USA. This makes it even easier for the pirates to release their products ahead of the real ones.

China has not made an official response to the US' accusations, but has already lowered the bar for what counts as a pirated distributor, down from 1,000 sold copies to 500. Despite that, the market for pirated material hasn't slowed down to any significant amount. If the new fiormal complaints from the USA will have any effect remains to be seen.

"Despite repeated crackdowns, pirated movies, music and software are sold openly and widely in China. Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon's "The Departed" goes for about $1, while the Microsoft Office suite can be had for as little as $3. Some items are sold on major streets in ordinary-looking shops bearing big signs that say "DVD," operations so slick they offer receipts. Smaller vendors hawk DVDs out of suitcases or boxes near subway stations and public bathrooms."

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