$200B Lost To Counterfeiting? Back It Up 283
An anonymous reader writes "Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a story about how the recession has impacted product counterfeiters. In it, the reporter regurgitates the oft-repeated claim that counterfeiting 'costs American businesses an estimated $200 billion a year.' Techdirt's Mike Masnick asks the Times reporter to back up that assertion, noting two recent reports (by the GAO and the OECD) that suggest the actual number is much lower, and quoting two reporters who have actually looked at the numbers and found (a) the real number is probably less than $5 billion, and (b) the $200 billion number can be traced back to a totally unsourced (read: made-up) magazine claim from two decades ago."
Not surprising (Score:4, Informative)
Seriously though, estimating losses due to piracy/counterfeiting is always dodgy since it assumes that a certain number of people would have bought the real deal had the fake stuff not been available.
Re:Counterfeiting is Ok. (Score:3, Informative)
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."
-Homer Simpson
"Burns' Heir" [1F16]
Re:Old comment style sucks (Score:3, Informative)
This article, and:
http://collateralmurder.com/ [collateralmurder.com]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/16/army_wikileaks/ [theregister.co.uk]
http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2010m6d20-Censored-news-Pentagon-attacks-Wikileaks-more-gulf-drilling-approved-Fed-fights-reform-more [examiner.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Errors_in_the_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_that_have_been_corrected_in_Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html [cnet.com]
http://thestatsblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/britannica-versus-wikipedia/ [wordpress.com]
Re:Maybe newspaper articles should list references (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The obligatory Obama comment (Score:4, Informative)
Well then why didn't you reply to it? Oh, wait, it isn't there. I expanded all the comments and ctrl+f'ed Obama, the only three instances were in your post..
Re:Can't really hurt many US jobs... (Score:3, Informative)
That's one of the reasons countries trying to modernise their economies tend to put a focus on IP creation - it leads to a large influx of cash for a long, long time. Same goes for moving away from a primarily extraction-based economy.
Re:Counterfeiting is Ok. (Score:5, Informative)
The difference is between effective government and ineffective government, not the ability of a government to provide a just society. Hang on, I'll put it simply: you need to learn more than what your daddy told you. It's a big, big world out there.
Let's look at two modern western nations and see what the results are:
USA vs Norway
GDP per Capita (World Bank)
Norway: $55,000
USA: $46,000
Life Expectancy
Norway: 80 years
USA: 78.2 years
Poverty Rates
Norway: 7%
USA: 12%
Employment Rates:
Norway: 3.5% (April 2010)
USA: 8% (April 2010)
Income Inequality (Lower is Better)
Norway: 25.8
USA: 40.8
Vacation Time
Norway: 25 days
USA: 14 days
Awww boo. Reality is a bitch, ain't it?
Re:It is killing retail too (Score:1, Informative)
That is not true. Some of the best fitting suits I own are $400 suits made by tailors in Thailand and Malaysia. I was once given a voucher for an expensive suit from an upmarket local tailor (Australia). The expensive suit is actually not as good, and is made from the exact same material, as the ones I've bought from overseas.
Paying an extra zero just because your tailor happens to live in Beverly Hills and needs money for his third wife's nose job is your own stupidity.