Pres. Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao held a joint-press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday with the topic of intellectual property and piracy a talking point. The expected trade talks even caused China to launch a piracy crackdown as the Chinese president prepared for his trip stateside.
The focus of Chinese piracy surrounds pirates stealing from western nations, but China reportedly steals from any country or company that has what the country finds use for.
As Obama and other western leaders applaud China for cracking down on piracy, there is concern other nations losing money to Chinese piracy will be overlooked. In the more immediate future, Microsoft and other companies are cautious of the Chinese market, but want to jump into the country as soon as its seen as secure.
Silicon Valley executives are expected to directly work with Chinese leaders hoping to find suitable solutions to reduce piracy and offer products in a growing economy. There are simply no short-term solutions that will happen overnight, with piracy expected to remain a problem in 2011 and 2012.
Here is what the BSA had to say of the press conference:
"The incremental measures announced today do not go far enough in ensuring legal software use," said BSA CEO Robert Holleyman. "We appreciate the tremendous effort the U.S. government has made and expect that, going forward, these intense efforts will continue as part of the U.S. government's comprehensive strategy for improving the enforcement of intellectual property rights in China."
The BSA is one of multiple copyright trade groups interested in working with governments to fight piracy.
In the future, China plans to increase national support for legally purchased software, and will still crack down on Internet pirates.
