Glickman testifies about piracy threat
Glickman testifies about piracy
Nov 22, 2005
The Chinese government's rigid restrictions of foreign film and television product that can be legally enjoyed by China's consumers have created a "marketplace vacuum that pirates are only too happy to fill," MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman told a U.S. senator Monday.
Glickman was one of seven business leaders testifying before Sen. Tom Coburn, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security.
"If you did not see a counterfeit DVD, you were not in China," Glickman told Coburn, asserting that about 90% of DVDs sold in that country are pirated versions.
Coburn, R-Okla., who led Monday's hearing at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, echoed a theme exposed by all seven witnesses: that Chinese officials are not enforcing laws that they have agreed to abide by.
"The Chinese do not play by the rules," Coburn said, estimating that piracy of all products in China costs the American economy at least $19 billion and 240,000 jobs per year.
He told of how Chinese officials recently seized 40,000 Zippo lighters but then valued them at 6 cents per lighter, putting the seizure at less than the threshold of a crime so the perpetrators faced no criminal penalty.
Glickman called the U.S. film industry "the poster boy for this problem" and offered evidence linking Chinese counterfeiters of DVDs to organized crime. Pirated DVDs in China boast a 1,150% profit margin, about three times higher than heroin, Glickman said.
He spoke of the 1 million Americans in the film industry whose jobs are threatened by Chinese piracy, saying that the problem affects more than just his movie studio members and multimillionaire celebrities.
Nashville songwriter Gary Burr, also a witness, suggested more lawsuits, a la RIAA and its battle against peer-to-peer file-sharing. "Treat 'em like a 14-year-old. After it gets ugly, maybe they'll get the message," he said.
Another witness, Ted Fishman, author of "China, Inc.," challenged Glickman to also "raise a flag" over the issue of cheap DVDs sold in the U.S. though made in China by companies infringing on U.S. patents. How else could a DVD player sell for $30 when it costs $14 just to license the microchip, he asked.
Much of the manufacturing in China simply relies on the reverse engineering of U.S. technology, Fishman said.
We cannot enforce U.S. laws in China but can prevent counterfeit goods coming into the U.S., agreed Patrick Mulloy, of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Mulloy said that the attention Chinese officials have paid to protecting the logo they created for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing is proof that China "can do it if they want to do it."
Glickman was one of seven business leaders testifying before Sen. Tom Coburn, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security.
"If you did not see a counterfeit DVD, you were not in China," Glickman told Coburn, asserting that about 90% of DVDs sold in that country are pirated versions.
Coburn, R-Okla., who led Monday's hearing at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, echoed a theme exposed by all seven witnesses: that Chinese officials are not enforcing laws that they have agreed to abide by.
"The Chinese do not play by the rules," Coburn said, estimating that piracy of all products in China costs the American economy at least $19 billion and 240,000 jobs per year.
He told of how Chinese officials recently seized 40,000 Zippo lighters but then valued them at 6 cents per lighter, putting the seizure at less than the threshold of a crime so the perpetrators faced no criminal penalty.
Glickman called the U.S. film industry "the poster boy for this problem" and offered evidence linking Chinese counterfeiters of DVDs to organized crime. Pirated DVDs in China boast a 1,150% profit margin, about three times higher than heroin, Glickman said.
He spoke of the 1 million Americans in the film industry whose jobs are threatened by Chinese piracy, saying that the problem affects more than just his movie studio members and multimillionaire celebrities.
Nashville songwriter Gary Burr, also a witness, suggested more lawsuits, a la RIAA and its battle against peer-to-peer file-sharing. "Treat 'em like a 14-year-old. After it gets ugly, maybe they'll get the message," he said.
Another witness, Ted Fishman, author of "China, Inc.," challenged Glickman to also "raise a flag" over the issue of cheap DVDs sold in the U.S. though made in China by companies infringing on U.S. patents. How else could a DVD player sell for $30 when it costs $14 just to license the microchip, he asked.
Much of the manufacturing in China simply relies on the reverse engineering of U.S. technology, Fishman said.
We cannot enforce U.S. laws in China but can prevent counterfeit goods coming into the U.S., agreed Patrick Mulloy, of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Mulloy said that the attention Chinese officials have paid to protecting the logo they created for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing is proof that China "can do it if they want to do it."
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