Cinematic Piracy in China - Essay Example

? Cinematic Piracy in China Over the years, China has registered the worst records of copyright offenses in the globe. With its increased availability and distribution of counterfeited movies, music and software, its case has become a global concern. China registers the highest counterfeiting of entertainment products in a wide range. Cinematic piracy involves mechanical production or synchronization of movies and any cinema works without legal licenses. In china, the expertise at which piracy occurs presents a challenge in determining the counterfeit and the genuine intellectual property. Reports indicate that there is minimal understanding and respect for intellectual property. This paper will discuss why cinematic piracy has become son rampant in China and present the alarming statistics at which this vice is talking place. Cinematic piracy involves the reproduction of any cinematic intellectual property without paying any returns to the producers. The vice involves both the act of production and buying counterfeit copies (Larkin, 2004). The pirated video compact discs (VCDs) and DVDs enter the distribution channels in China retailing at very low prices. It is surprising that, Hollywood movies appear in counterfeited forms in China streets, before their official launch into theatres. In other cases, the circulation of pirated movies in China begins a few days after the premier entry into theatres. Some cinematic pirates often make use of hand-held videos in theatres during a movie premier to capture the entire movie. These offenders then proceed to make copies in Asia, and in a few days, they gain entry into the market. Other copyright offenders rely on quality screeners in order to produce copies of Hollywood movies. Sometimes the copies come out in a quality that is easily confused with the original. With the increasing use of internet in the globe, it becomes easy to share cinematic intellectual property files in digital form (Pang, 2006). Background statistics of Cinematic Piracy Cinematic piracy is very rampant in china and prevailed for a long time. Traditional piracy involved making copies of movies and retailing them at much cheaper prices in the Chinese market. The Chinese government failed to intervene into the matter that was causing Chinese movie industries immense losses. By 2000, pirated material consisted of 94 % of movies retailing in China. With the emergence of new form of digital piracy, China has registered higher rates of cinematic piracy with an increasing population connected to the internet and sharing files. In 2003, Chinas’ sale of licensed movies accounted to only 17.7 % while the industry was making profits in billions. This gap between the total sales of movies and the total sales of licensed movies and films represents a large percentage of the existing pirated cinematic work. Further statistics indicate that the production capacity is much higher than the sales made presents the gross rate at which China indulges in piracy of intellectual property. In 2005, the profits from copyright piracy were in USD 200 billion USD. It is worth noting that in 2008, the piracy rate registered a 10% drop. However, despite the drop, China remains at the top of the vice of piracy globally (Liang, 2011). According to Pang (2004), the prevalence of piracy in China in alarming rates has negative implications on the Chinese copyright laws. It is worth noting that China restricts the entry of film work from foreign publishers. As a result, the Chinese law did not protect any intellectual property that gained entry into China without its knowledge. That clause in the Chinese copyright law contributed to the high rates of pirated cinematic works in China for a very long time. However, the world trade organization (WTO) pushed China to amend its copyright laws. WTO made claims that the mentioned clause allowed China to engage in copyright offenses without any action. Pirated material was circulating freely in China but the copyright owners could do nothing about it because China’s laws hindered any form of action. However, through pressure from WTO, China agreed to alter the clause. Since April 2010, the clause in article 4 of the Chinese copyright law forbids the exercise of copyrights in way that causes detrimental effects to the public. In addition, China added a new article that recognized copyright agreements. Despite the copyright act amendment, other countries feel that the Chinese government is not doing enough to enforce the copyright law. Although the government has often called for closure of distribution channels that were selling pirated films and music, the trend of piracy continues to prevail. The copyright law does not offer a stringent stand on the repercussions of piracy since China does not support the entry of foreign cinematic work and has stringent censure. Therefore, insufficient measures of curbing the vice have led to its current increase. The prevalence of piracy in China has had gross effects on its fast growing economy. The pirated material has two types of market in China. There is the primary market that buys pirated work without prior knowledge that it is not genuine. These clients of pirated film work often confuse the fake for the original. On the other hand, there is a ready market for pirated work that prefers the low prices that come with counterfeited film work. The sales to both of these groups have increased in the last few years. Piracy has led to the closure of movie industries in China. The products of these movie industries could not survive in a market crowded with counterfeited cheap cinematic works (Berry, Xinyu, & Rofel, 2010). The increasing competition led to closure and great losses to China’s own movie industries. The prevalence of piracy denies the Chinese people job opportunities in the film production industry. On the other hand, dealers in the counterfeit movie industry have made enormous profits over the years. With minimal regulation in the industry, the illegal business is making billions of USD in profit each year. The profits made by Chinese copyright offenders translate to losses to the copyright owners. The copyright offenses have a negative influence on the global economy. Since China has one of ten fastest growing economies on the globe, the counterfeit business has been growing fast as well. This exerts a global pressure on the global movie industry and the Hollywood specifically. The recent efforts to curb the vice have resulted to saving millions of USD by Hollywood movie industry. For example, the 10% drop in 2008 translated to 864 USD saved. These statistics ascertain the fact that cinematic piracy in China has vast economic effects (Wang, & Zhu, 2003). The vice of piracy in China increased to the high rates because of several factors. One of the factors is the lack of stringent measures of curbing piracy from the government. In addition, the fact that there is a wide gap in purchasing powers between western people and the Chinese people leads to the dire preference of the cheaper pirated cinematic works. In addition, the advancing technology presents people with fast access to the internet leading to a tremendous increase in the circulation of pirate material. The availability of quality screeners and hand-held cameras presents people with a capacity to produce quality-counterfeited material that can easily pass for genuine work. This increases sales of pirated movies. Statistics indicate that technology has presented China with a vast capacity to counterfeit with expertise. In addition, the stringent censure of any intellectual property gaining its entry to China presents an additional drive for piracy (Zhang, 2004). The censure only leaves piracy as the only avenue through which the Chinese people can access to Hollywood products. In addition, the censure law did not protect the copyright of material not authorized for distribution in China, a fact that led to immense indulgence in copyright offenses. Moreover, the movie industry has zeal to make profits through the sale of Hollywood products despite the stringency of the government. However, the fact that the Chinese government does not act immediately to curb the rise of piracy presents the greatest challenge. It is evident that cinematic piracy is a real business in the Chinese market presenting the dealers with billion of USD in profits yet translating to gross losses to the Hollywood movie industry (Wang, 2003). The increasing advances in technology only serve to present more opportunities for copyright offenders to exploit new avenues of digital piracy. The statistics of the situation implies that new measures need to come into place to curb the vice. References Berry, C., Xinyu, L., & Rofel, L. (Eds.). (2010). The new Chinese documentary film movement: For the public record. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Larkin, B. (2004). Degraded images, distorted sounds: Nigerian video and the infrastructure of piracy. Public Culture, 16(2), 289–314. Liang, L. (2011). Beyond representation: The figure of the pirate. In M. Biagioli, P. Jaszi, & M. Woodmansee (Eds.), Making and unmaking intellectual property: Creative production in legal and cultural perspective (pp. 167–180). 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