The Thai government is cracking down on sales of illegally copied
goods, such as movies and clothes, but its campaign has met
resistance. Piracy across the
Asia-Pacific region is a multi-billion-dollar business fueled by demand
for the latest and cheapest entertainment and software.
Deep in Bangkok's high-profile Patpong night club district, a thriving night market draws in tourists and residents alike.
A staple of Thailand's markets has long been cheap copies of everything from popular music to designer clothes.
But the government has come under increasing pressure, in particular from the United States, to curb copyright violations.
Among worst offenders: China, Russia
United
States Trade Representative's office says that in the Asia-Pacific
region, China, Russia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan are the worst
offenders for intellectual copyright piracy.
But this year,
the USTR put Thailand on its special watch list of countries failing to
curb violations. Countries that do not address the problem could face
U.S. trade sanctions.
The Intellectual Property Alliance says
its members lost more than $400 million in Thailand in 2007,
because of sales of illegally copied business software, video games,
music and movies.
In May, the Thai government began cracking down.
One
of the first targets was Patpong. When officials seized suspected
goods, a riot erupted as vendors fought back with sticks, bottles and
stones. Several people were injured. Some vendors say soldiers were
involved in the raid.
One vendor, who asked not to be named, says most goods seized in the raid did not violate copyright laws.
"Police
come, he take everything," he said. "You saw, you saw in the market we
have a problem [of counterfeit goods] about 10 to 20 percent - 80
percent no problem. But he's not police, he is soldier. He takes
everything you know, everything from my shop."
Piracy causes billions in losses
Sales of
illegally copied software, movies and music across the Asia-Pacific
region continue to rise. The Business Software Alliance, an
international group, estimates software piracy alone caused losses of
over $15 billion last year in the region.
Many governments, however, are taking a harder line on the trade.
Jeffery J. Hardee is the BSA's Asia-Pacific regional director. He says there are good economic reasons for doing so.
"In
a place like Thailand, a 10 point drop in the piracy level could have
an additional $1 billion to the gross domestic product of the country,"
said Hardee. "About half of that would remain in the country and it
could create several thousand new jobs and add $55 million of
additional tax revenues."
Government vows to continue crackdown
The government vows to continue the
crackdown. Raids through June targeted other well known venues selling
pirated software and entertainment.
Deputy Commerce Ministry
Alongkorn Ponlaboot leads the effort. He dismisses vendors' complaints
that authorities have been heavy handed, but says his agency will try
to avoid problems such as the riot in Patpong, as it builds community
support the crackdown. And he says the government hopes to show the
USTR that it is serious about curtailing piracy.
"Hopefully,
because of the Patpong crackdown, will be the reason for us to improve
our program to promote what is intellectual property, that the public
should know," said Alongkorn. "I think we get more understanding at
least - the Commerce Ministry and USTR can say that they support our
policy and our seriousness of our policy implementation."
New legislation envisioned
The
government is drafting new legislation on intellectual property, which,
among other things, would impose tough penalties on landlords if their
tenants sell illegally copied goods.
But vendors are fighting
back. They lodged a complaint against the government with the Thai Law
Society. The president of the Lawyers Council of Thailand, Dej-Udom
Krairit, says the government acted improperly in Patpong.
He says that affected companies must begin legal action against vendors for violating trade marks, not the government.
"You
must have the complainer to lodge the complaint - you need to bring
along those who are representatives of the interested parties - i.e.
the owner of the copyright to identify which part of the good is
pirated. Not send the troops to take charge, grab all those vendors or
property without identifying the pirated one. You can't do that," said
Dej-Udom.
The Thai government says its tactics are proper,
and are important not only to meet international law, but also to
protect Thailand's entertainment industry, which also loses money to
pirates at home and abroad.
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