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How Piracy Can Boost Business

Posted Jul 19, 08 11:03 AM CDT in World,  Technology,  Glossies,  Business 

(Newser) – Intellectual piracy is bad for business, yes, but also inevitable—and companies fare better when turning it to their advantage, the Economist reports. The large (and illegal) volume of music and video exchanged online, for example, can reveal who’s popular in which countries. And Microsoft, which officially battles piracy, also derives massive benefits from bootlegging of Windows.

Coming down hard on OS copycats could turn customers toward open-source software, Bill Gates admitted last year. "It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not,” he said. Piracy can also spark innovation, in everything from music remixes to shoe marketing, says the author of a new book on piracy: “The best way to profit from pirates is to copy them."

Source Economist

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People watch as confiscated pirated video discs are destroyed in Shenyang, China.   (AP Photo)
Even Jackie Chan feels the bite of piracy, in decreased sales at his Segway store.   (AP Photo)
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller smiles next to pirated copies of Microsoft Windows 98 in 2002.   (AP Photo)
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer toasts with the Founder Technology Group chairman as they sign an agreement to pre-install Windows on PCs in a move to combat widespread Chinese product piracy.   (AP Photo)
A vendor tries to prevent photographs being taken of fake Louis Vuitton and Coach brand wallets in Beijing.   (AP Photo)
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Microsoft  • music industry  • piracy  • intellectual property  • Nike  • knockoff


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