“Follow the money,” the mysterious Deep Throat famously urges Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men. “Always follow the money.” It is sage advice that investigative journalists and law enforcement authorities have been following for generations to ferret out criminal activity. And by the same token, cutting off the flow of money to a criminal … Read More >>
Tag: software
Tailoring Consumer Protections for Digital Services
Europe’s consumer protection framework is currently under review, which is a good thing: strong consumer protection for Europeans is a must. This review provides an opportunity to assure consumers of a reliable standard of protection throughout the European single market and to reduce the regulatory and legal burden on companies by harmonizing the cacophony of … Read More >>
Keeping Strong IPR at the Top of the Trans-Pacific Trade Agenda
Want to bring down the US trade deficit? One easy way is to reduce software piracy. At last count, the packaged-software industry was contributing a surplus of nearly $37 billion to the US balance of trade — and that was with one hand tied behind its back, because another $30 billion worth of sales are … Read More >>
Software Issues Top the Agenda for US-China Trade
If there was any doubt about the relative importance of software issues in the economic relationship between the United States and China, it was dispelled in the ministerial sessions of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) that were held December 14–15 in Washington. The official statement and fact sheet that US negotiators issued … Read More >>
US-China JCCT Talks Represent an Inflection Point
After years of frustration with persistently high rates of software piracy in China, could it be that we are about to see actual improvement in legal software sales there? Having met recently with top officials in the US and Chinese governments, I am guardedly optimistic. One thing is abundantly clear: Both governments, at the very … Read More >>