GSB Mennonite

I would suspect that it's actually higher than that in many segments. One of the developers at my last firm (not Chinese, another nationality) openly stated "In XXX, we don't care about copyrights" and openly pirated stuff.

He went as far as suggesting that we distribute MS Project off the homepage.

I smacked him down for that one and the idea failed to gain traction.

My comments here are not intended to be a condemnation or affirmation of the practice of "piracy" in China. I would simply like to learn more about Chinia and invite opportunities to discuss the matter.

We just finished a class on "Competing Globally" here at the Executive MBA program at University of Michigan, and I learned a fascinating piece of information in regards to "piracy" in China. Evidently, as I've confirmed with multiple sources now, Confucius set a precedent in China with his proclamtion that all knowledge, once in the public domain, is to be shared with the general population. In fact, duplicating, or "pirating", immaterial items that we would call intellectual property might seem absurd to a Chinese national. Often, certain Chinese are accused of copying sophisticated machinery when they instead may view it as learning about the creation and assembly of a product for the public, as established by Confucius. Anyone else's thoughts or clarifications on this would be helpful!

Mitch,

Intersting point. I don't know much at all about Confucius or his current impact on the business environment in China, but I would think that regardless of his historical impact the current situation is highly transitionary environment. As Chinese write and release their own software they'll quickly realize that without socialist support from a government, they will need at least a form of IP protection.

Alternatively technology/software companies will need to find other ways of providing software (i.e. over the Internet as a service, new media format) or perhaps we'll have self destructed media soon just like Mission Impossible! :)

very timely piece. just got back from the GSB(had a great time btw) and saw an email from an uncle who uses a piece of software to write movie scripts. he was using a pirated version and after a year or so it has locked up and asks for a password/registration. He's used the product and likes it so much that he was asking me to send him an original version from here because there is nothing comparable out there ! and he doesn't want to deal anymore with the flakiness of pirated software.

An anecdotal example, but I think there may be clues here to a solution. maybe short-term piracy is acceptable to get customers in 3W countries invested so much in products that they want the real deal.

Power,

Nice to see you this past weekend. Sorry I wasn't around Sat - had a case team and a makeup class/quiz downtown.

Good story. I think without lower priced stripped-down versions of software it'll take a while to get rid of piracy. Problem is to do it in developing countries and not developed markets so not to canibalize current sales. :)

Jeremy,
I'm sure you'll have much to talk about this issue with folks over at your internship. they have been dealing with this for a while. a conversation after would be interesing.