This is the theory. But the facts are tellingly different. The
less the cost of production (brought down by digital
technologies) - the fiercer the battle against piracy. The
bigger the market - the more pressure is applied to clamp down
on samizdat entrepreneurs.
Governments, from China to Macedonia, are introducing
intellectual property laws (under pressure from rich world
countries) and enforcing them belatedly. But where one factory
is closed on shore (as has been the case in mainland China) -
two sprout off shore (as is the case in Hong Kong and in
Bulgaria).
But this defies logic : the market today is global, the costs
of production are lower (with the exception of the music and
film industries), the marketing channels more numerous (half
of the income of movie studios emanates from video cassette
sales), the speedy recouping of the investment virtually
guaranteed. Moreover, piracy thrives in very poor markets in
which the population would anyhow not have paid the legal
price. The illegal product is inferior to the legal copy (it
comes with no literature, warranties or support).
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