Warranty Management – Meaning and its Components
Warranty Management had been traditionally viewed by companies as a cost of doing business. The costs of warranty management were found to be costing between 4 to 5 percent of the total sales revenue of the company per annum and were considered to be the cost of providing customer satisfaction and as an opportunity to […]
National Competitiveness – Meaning and Its Myths
National competitiveness is becoming an important subject of debate as governments all across the world are competing with one another to gain foreign capital and resources. However, the problem is that there is no theory that correctly defines what national competitiveness is and how countries can become more competitive in the global market. It is […]
The Argument for Privatization of Airports
Privatization of airports is not a new idea. Many politicians have implemented it as an important economic policy. Margaret Thatcher was one of the first politicians to use privatization as an important policy measure. Her government privatized essential entities like the British Airways as well as the Heathrow airport in the 1970’s. Donald Trump has […]
ERP Service Module – Planning, Warranties and Contracts
Service Planning – Attending of unscheduled maintenance tasks arising out of breakdown and faults both for internal and external customer is an important service activity of any organization. However, bulk of service activities arise out of planned service activities. For internal customers, this may be routine maintenance of plant and equipments, arising out of preventive […]
Barriers to India achieving Double Digit Growth
Indian Economic Growth: Hype versus Reality Much has been written about how India is on the cusp of achieving double digit economic growth and that the long awaited Acche Din or Good Days are to be realized. Indeed, this was the campaign promise of the present Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who made the state of […]
In recent years, intellectual property rights (IPR) have become the topic of intense discussion and concerted efforts by businesses to defend them. The reason for this renewed interest and vigorous protection and defense of IPR is that the theft and piracy of items like software, books, games, and movies has reached unprecedented levels that are threatening the very existence of the industries as they see a drop in revenues that is substantial and makes a difference to their survival.
The menace of software and other digital piracy began in the 1990s parallel to the development of these industries as the consumers in the developing world (especially China and to a smaller extent, India) could not afford the high prices of the digital items resulting in them buying pirated copies of the digital items.
Indeed, estimates show that almost 40% of all software and digital items in circulation in China are pirated which reveals the extent to which the menace is affecting the industries. Further, it has been shown that software is the biggest of the pirated items and therefore, there have been concerted efforts made by the software industry to combat the menace of piracy.
The economic reasons that contribute to piracy are the high cost of the original items. Apart from the economic reasons, the fact that many digital items are not available in the emerging markets easily is another reason for the piracy.
Of course, nothing justifies the illegal and unauthorized distribution of digital items and therefore, it is clear that the solutions to the issue of piracy and the protection of IPR must come from all stakeholders.
A possible solution would be to price the software and other digital items inexpensively which would reduce the incentives for the pirates and increase the incentives for the users to buy authentic software.
Another solution would be to offer discounts to the emerging market consumers who otherwise would not be able to afford the high cost of the items. However, this has not really found favor with software biggies like Microsoft who contend that they spend large amounts of money in research and development of the software and hence, must recoup some of their costs. They have instead found a way to offer discounts for students and homebuyers who are traditionally the ones most susceptible to buying pirated software.
The key issue at stake in the defense of IPR is that when a company makes or manufactures an item, they are entitled to the sales of the item and the menace of piracy takes away their due from the proceeds. This is the reason why many companies fight tooth and nail to defend their IPR.
Further, in recent months, there have been concerted efforts by the companies in tandem with the law enforcement agencies to shut down the file sharing sites that are the hub of pirated digital items. This has resulted in cases being filed against the sites like Megaupload whose founder, Kim Dotcom had to spend a lot of time in prison.
However, the pirates are always one-step ahead and this has frustrated the efforts of the companies and the law enforcement agencies in their fight against piracy. The key point here is that the defense of IPR has put the spotlight back on the ethical imperatives as well as the larger questions of who owns the copyright of digital items that many contend must be open source and freely available to the users.
Apart from this, the fact that it is human nature to get something free as opposed to paying for it even though the price might be less is another facet of the issue of the defense of IPR.
Finally, it must be noted that it is high time for the governments or at least the courts to step in and resolve the knotty issue of IPR as otherwise; we risk the loss of valuable contributions made by several pioneers to bring us the software that we use in our everyday lives.
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Business Continuity Management Planning around the World
February 12, 2025
