[Ecommerce] "How do you get governments' attention if you don't have good statistics?"

[Manon Ress]

From:   News
Sent:   Wednesday, October 13, 2004 10:27 AM
Subject:        intellectual piracy [Vivendi: Fourtou] - from FT

Vivendi boss to lead war on piracy
By Mark Turner at the United Nations
Published: October 13 2004 03:00 | Last updated: October 13 2004 03:00
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Jean-Ren=E9 Fourtou, head of Vivendi Universal and chairman of the
International Chamber of Commerce, yesterday launched a "worldwide
industry offensive" against intellectual piracy, calling on business
leaders to unite in a campaign against counterfeiting.

Speaking at the United Nations to an audience of US petrochemical,
pharmaceutical, software and consumer goods executives, he warned: "This
illegal activity is spiralling out of control. It's like a cancer. It is
imperative that business unites and acts at a global level now."

Officials described his speech as a call to action to win a critical
mass of cross-sectoral and international supporters to lobby governments
and legislatures with a single voice.

The ICC says piracy is not only costing governments vast amounts of tax
dollars but also hampering creativity, endangering health and safety,
and limiting lawful employment opportunities.

"The complete and compelling case is that counter-feiting and piracy
result in economic, social and developmental costs that are broader than
profit losses to a single company or sector and are more damaging to
economic growth than may be currently understood."

While pirated DVDs hog the headlines, it says, the problem extends to
aircraft parts, food, batteries and medicine, creating a "massive drain
on national economies, especially those struggling to develop".

Ron Noble, secretary-general of Interpol, says: "This is a multi-billion
dollar problem that affects the safety of people, the security of
governments, that is connected to organised crimes, drug trafficking and
terrorism." But, he adds: "There is no pressure to produce results."

Michel Danet, secretary-general of the World Customs Organisation, says:
"We don't have a mandate to stop counterfeiting. We have a patchwork
that has holes in it."

The ICC wants to use its network of 90 national committees to pressure
local legislators and to wield its membership of international
organisations to generate concerted top-level action.

But part of the problem, officials concede, is finding any reliable
statistics on what is essentially an underground activity.

According to ICC officials, the "consensus estimate" of the cost of
piracy is $600bn (=80485bn, =A3334bn) a year but it is unclear how that can
be verified. Another estimate is that piracy accounts for 5-7 per cent
of world trade.

Rita Hayes, deputy-director of the World Intellectual Property
Organisation, says: "The private sector has to let us know exactly what
we're looking for.

"How do you get governments' attention if you don't have good statistics?"
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bb6d6056-1cb5-11d9-8d72-00000e2511c8.html



--
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176