Intellectual Property Piracy: Perception and Reality in China, the United States, and Elsewhere

Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 65, 2008

TJSL Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1022243

20 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2007 Last revised: 15 Mar 2009

See all articles by Aaron Schwabach

Aaron Schwabach

UALR William H. Bowen School of Law

Abstract

This article is intended as a counterpoint to the all-too-frequent portrayal of China as the world's leading violator of intellectual property rights. In fact, by many measures, China, taken as a whole, is not the leading violator. Some measures show China as the leading violator only because they are aggregates, and do not take into account China's size. When figures are adjusted for population, China's rates of intellectual property violation are lower than those of many other countries, including the United States.

The article first looks at examples of the current round of political and media China-bashing. It then examines figures on international movie piracy provided by the Motion Picture Association (the international counterpart of the Motion Picture Association of America) and compares those figures to the populations of the countries involved. It concludes that the problem of movie piracy is more severe in the U.S. than in China, possibly because of greater broadband access, and more severe still in other countries, including France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Keywords: Asia, China, copyright, copyright infringement, East Asia, intellectual property, international, movies, piracy

JEL Classification: K10, K42

Suggested Citation

Schwabach, Aaron, Intellectual Property Piracy: Perception and Reality in China, the United States, and Elsewhere. Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 65, 2008, TJSL Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1022243, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1022243

Aaron Schwabach (Contact Author)

UALR William H. Bowen School of Law ( email )

1201 McMath Street
Little Rock, AR 72202
United States

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