This June, I am getting as much of the 2006 World Cup as I can get. And anyone watching it knows – Brazil is one of the favorites to win this year. The country’s national team has won most WC tournaments in history (5), and was led to three of those five victories by the great Pelé. Pelé has scored over 1,000 goals in his career, but the one he is trying to score now is going to be more difficult than all the others combined — this one is coming against piracy! I saw the commercial while watching the games over the weekend (click on the picture below to view it).
U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running its own campaign against counterfeiting and piracy. Among other things, they publish a monthly outrage of the month newsletter.
Pelé calls for action against piracy, because it destroys jobs in the movie industry. I call for action against counterfeiting and piracy because:
- Counterfeit alcohol kills 42,000 Russians a year
- Counterfeit drugs lead to death and prevent millions from receiving the care they need
- Piracy suppresses economic growth and prevents job creation
- Piracy increases costs for consumers (it does not lower them!)
- Counterfeiting and piracy rob countries of innovation, technologies, and investment
It is certainly helpful to have Pelé on your side, but what can the private sector do to address these problems? The major challenge we are all facing is that it is too early to think about reducing piracy and counterfeiting — we must first figure out how to slow down a widespread growth in countries like Russia, which, according to Time, is gaining on China as a counterfeiting center of the world.
Published Date: June 26, 2006