Crackdown on pirated goods sees results By Wu Yong and Wang Ziyi (China Daily) Updated: 2006-02-06 06:19
"In order to continue striking pirated CDs and DVDs, we have jointly formed a
law enforcement team to monitor these markets around-the-clock everyday," Wang
said.
His claim was backed by Wang Yi, once a regular consumer of the pirated
products. He told China Daily that it is now hard to find pirated DVDs and
software in Shenyang.
"You can now hardly see pirated CDs in the markets. And we will keep a close
eye on these markets to ensure that they don't come back again," Wang Hongyu
said.
With the disappearance of pirated products, the legal audio and video product
dealers are benefiting directly from the campaign.
"My sales tripled in the past month compared with those before November. And
I plan to order a larger range of products after Spring Festival," said Chen
Tong, a software dealer in Sanhao Street.
"If piracy can be controlled and more customers purchase our copyrighted
products, we can provide more of these products for cheaper prices in return in
the future," said Feng Hongtao, manager of Dongke Audio and Video Chain Store.
However, some insiders are not so optimistic about the future.
"Still, there is a big gap in the prices between legal and pirated products.
Customers will turn to the latter if the gap still exists and stays so large,"
said a pirated products dealer, surnamed Tang who declined to give her full
name.
Most of the pirated computer games, DVDs, and some software products are sold
under 10 yuan (US$1.25) in Sanhao while the legal ones cost over 100 yuan
(US$12).
"I don't think customers will abandon pirated products as their price is five
to 10 times cheaper while the quality is similar," said Tang.
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