The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and other copyright groups recently met with U.S. lawmakers to discuss the economic impact Chinese piracy has on the U.S economy.
Companies remain uncertain as to how to sell copyrighted material to a market of more than 1 billion potential customers.
"The Chinese government's poor enforcement of intellectual property rights allows Chinese enterprises to illegally use US technologies with impunity, including billions of dollars worth of software developed by US companies," said Robert Holleyman, BSA President, in a statement. "This translates directly into reduced revenues and fewer jobs in the US software sector. Illegal use of software also confers an unfair economic advantage on Chinese companies, who use such software to develop, manufacture and export a wide range of products more cheaply than their US competitors."
In addition to piracy, some businesses claim the Chinese government seeks to create "indigenous innovation" laws that favor Chinese companies over western industries.
During the same meeting, USITC members heard some critics note that piracy figures are inflated -- with a Harvard University business professor saying each individual download doesn't translate to lost sales, among other questionable statements offered by the music and movie industries.
However, the problem of piracy in China is nothing new, with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer saying his company is willing to avoid working in the Chinese market.
China is on a short list of five pirate nations, joining alongside Canada, Mexico, Russia and Spain. China is seen as the lead pirate nation, with an IDC report claiming almost four out of five copies of installed PC software is pirated.
Piracy in China and other parts of the world will be a problem for the immediate future, especially since Chinese lawmakers don't seem worried about intellectual rights protection -- especially for foreign countries operating inside China.
