For China, this is something which has appeared in Chinese culture only for the past two decades or so. For the past decade, significant questions of intellectual property rights between the United States and China have arisen in areas such as computer software, movies, videocassettes and CDs. But it isn't just the United States economy that is losing value because of Chinese bootlegging. The interesting thing is because the copying is not just American recordings and movies, but also Chinese movies and records. China now has modern intellectual property laws, but the problem is enforcement in a country which does not have a strong legal system.
China is exactly the size of the United States and has four times the population.
Franklin Pierce Law Center has an international program with students from 29 countries. Government officials and students from China have been attending since 1985. During that time, China has made great progress both in the law and in the effect of its laws on society, Hennessey said. This is a very gradual process for a country as big as China. While Americans may look askance at Chinese practices, Hennessey noted it is common in the U.S. for people to make a copy of someone else's work.