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Originally Posted by RWood
In the late 1800s the UK and other European countries were saying the same thing about the USA. The USA publishers were reprinting the overseas books and stories without payment of copyright fees and the USA did not sign the international copyright convention agreements until 1891.
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Oh, absolutely, and it was darned hard to make a living at writing in the US until that point, from what I've heard. Though the legal basis of international copyright didn't really exist until the Berne Convention in 1886, so there wasn't much for the US to sign before that. Wikipedia has a nice article on the
history of copyright law, for those who might be interested in more detail.
The IP situation in China (and, for that matter, other less wealthy countries) is interesting. Even leaving out the amount of revenue expected by publishers, the income required to support a content creator in the western countries could be far greater than what potential customers in developing countries can afford to pay. If western publishers charge the same prices in China that they charge in the US or Europe, they don't sell many copies. But with digital technology, the cost of distribution is minimal. The western companies can cut prices in China, and accept a lower markup, or the pirates will do it for them. But if cheap copies are available in China (whether authorized or pirated), what's to stop people from reselling them in more expensive markets?
One might hope that long-term, the pipe could run both ways, and content creators in less wealthy countries could start to sell to richer customers via the internet. I'm betting we'll see it in music, first, where language is less of a barrier.