Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the content of this book. It traces briefly the background on how the media piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam has grown through the years despite the hegemonic pressure of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the government efforts of the Philippines and Vietnam to reform their respective Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws and local copyright protection system. It reviews some popular and prescriptive theories on why media piracy persists in developing countries and explains why the sociological perspective, particularly the relational and network approach of the actor–network theory (ANT), can be an appropriate theoretical framework to understand comprehensively the persistence of media piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam. Furthermore, it describes the book’s main objectives as well as the data source and research method which are used in the two subsequent sociological studies that became the basis of this book. Finally, it defines some major terms on media piracy which are often cited in the text and provides a roadmap for the book, describing briefly the content of each chapter and how the chapters are interconnected with one another to achieve the book’s overall purpose.
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- 1.
As a consequence of the global and U.S.-based sound recording piracy, for instance, it is alleged that the U.S. economy has lost $12.5 billion in total output annually and 71,060 jobs. Please see http://www.ipi.org/ipi_issues/detail/the-true-cost-of-sound-recording-piracy-to-the-us-economy. Supporters of stronger IPR protection in the United States estimated that online piracy alone can cost the U.S. economy between $200 and $250 billion a year and is responsible for the loss of 750,000 jobs. But some groups questioned the source and methodology of these estimates of piracy losses. Some claimed that estimates of piracy losses are replete with methodological errors, including double and triple counting that swell estimates (http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/01/12/how-much-do-music-and-movie-piracy-really-hurt-the-u-s-economy/). Sanchez (2012), for instance, argued that industry-sponsored estimates are dubious and lack sound empirical basis. See “How Copyright Industries Con Congress” at http://www.cato.org/blog/how-copyright-industries-con-congress. Some economists also argued that losses due to piracy do not really represent lost sales as people who buy fakes belong to a market segment which cannot afford to buy the original products and are not therefore the target market of the genuine goods in the first place (Chaudhry and Zimmerman 2013, p. 10).
- 2.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is the lead government agency under the Office of the U.S. President, authorized by the U.S. Trade Act, to monitor the IPR performance of the U.S. trading partners, issue an annual Special 301 Report, and include violators in the Priority Watch List (PWL) and Watch List (WL). This annual report is usually based on the yearly findings and recommendations of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a powerful private sector coalition, formed in 1984, of trade associations representing U.S. copyright-based industries. Its members include Association of American Publishers, Entertainment Software Association, Independent Film & Television Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, and Recording Industry Association of America. See IIPA home page at http://www.iipa.com/aboutiipa.html.
- 3.
The USTR has not provided a convincing empirical evidence to prove that piracy has indeed declined in the Philippines to justify the complete removal of the Philippines from the watch lists in 2014. In fact, the Washington-based International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) and IP International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) recommended in 2013 that the Philippines should be retained in the USTR’s Watch List for 2014 because of the continuing optical disc piracy and the rising online piracy in the country. Although the Philippines has requested the removal and has improved its IPR protection system, media piracy remains notorious in the country. The basis of the USTR was more on improvement of IPR legislation and judicial reforms made by the Philippine government rather than actual reduction of piracy goods and services in the country (please see 2014 USTR Special 301 Annual Report). Moreover, the removal coincided with President Obama’s visit to the Philippines and the signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in April 28, 2014, an executive agreement which allows increased rotational presence of American troops and military operations in the country and thus can rebalance the U.S. forces in the SEA and counter China’s adventurism in the West Philippine Sea (for a more detailed explanation on EDCA, please see Thayer (2014) “Analyzing the US-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement” at http://thediplomat.com/2014/05/analyzing-the-us-philippines-enhanced-defense-cooperation-agreement/). This agreement has created a suspicion that the removal from the watch list has something to do with the United States getting military favors from the Philippines rather than the substantial decline of media piracy in the country.
- 4.
Sony introduced the Betamax in 1975. But it was the VHS, popularized by Japan Victor Corporation (JVC), which became popular in the 1980s for video home viewing. Please see Chap. 7 of this book for a more detailed explanation on this.
- 5.
Being listed in USTR’s watch list system implies that the foreign country has not satisfactorily complied with its obligation to TRIPS and international standards on IPR protection, a violation of its commitment to GATT or free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. This entails continuous monitoring and pressure from the USTR of the country’s yearly IPR performance and a possible suspension or termination of trading privileges with the United States under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) which entails a possible loss of millions of dollars in trade value. The Philippines participates in the U.S. Generalized System of Preference (GSP) Program, which allows duty-free imports of certain products into the United States from developing countries (IIPA 2001 Special 301 Report). In the first 11 months of 2000, for instance, over $687 million of imports from the Philippines entered the U.S. duty-free under this program (IIPA 2001 Special 301 Report). Vietnam has not yet participated in the program but has a pending application.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
A report revealed that less than a year after the Philippines was downgraded by the USTR from PWL to WL, in 2013, Quiapo piracy returned to its usual business albeit in a clandestine way (De Vera 2013). Interviews and observations by the author with some retailers also revealed that Quiapo Barter Trade Center piracy market remained the main source of pirated discs in Metro Manila and nearby provinces despite the closure ordered by Mayor Lim.
- 16.
See “MPAA Actually Admits That Some Of Its Piracy Stats Are Bogus” at http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080122/18164639.shtml.
- 17.
See “Texas-Size Sophistry” at http://techliberation.com/2006/10/01/texas-size-sophistry/.
- 18.
For a more detailed explanation on the U.S. hegemony in the global IP trade, please see Chap. 2 of this book.
- 19.
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Ballano, V.O. (2016). Introduction. In: Sociological Perspectives on Media Piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-922-6_1
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