Urainski Pirates

Folks,

Like the apple juice complaint, here we go solving a problem that does not
exist. Now we have a trade dispute with a country that sells pirate CD's to
countries that cannot afford the real thing. It is not as attractive as it
sounds, since very many companies compete as pirates, making profits narrow.
If these countries cannot afford the real thing, then there is zero loss to
those who sell the real thing, when those who cannot afford the real thing
buy a pirate copy.

There is a solution superior to a government solution. If, say Microsoft,
were to say to the Ukrainski "please make us 100,000 units for our market
channels, and make as many as you like for your market channels, but give us
5 cents a copy (or some such) for our cooperation.

The result would be new revenue for Microsoft and less "piracy" inasmuch as
the Ukrainski cd-maker would now dislike other "pirates" locally, and would
use local means to stop them.

An as an aside, it costs maybe 75 cents to create the product microsoft sells
as "office" at $400 in the usa... an english language version is available
for India at half he price, reflecting what the market will bear. Tehrefore,
there must be a business wherein a USA customer buys office online for $275
from a company that fedex's the copy direct to the usa customer from india, a
copy that is fully supportable by micrsoft, for a nice 10% profit margin,
with no risk. (A silver star for anyone who can poke holes in this scenario).

But onto the official USA announcement:

On August 7, 2001, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that
it would suspend the special duty-free status for Ukrainian products and
issued a preliminary list of other products that could face sanctions, due to
Ukraine's persistent failure to curb unauthorized production of optical media
products (CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.). U.S. industries have estimated that this
massive piracy has caused over $200 million in annual damages and has
disrupted markets throughout the region and beyond. To view the U.S. Trade
Representative's press release visit www.ita.doc.gov/301alert and click on
the Ukraine button at the top right of the home page, or visit www.ustr.gov .
The Public Comment period is open now!

***
John Spiers

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