[2008.07.19] 应对盗版:在绝望中寻找希望

Piracy
盗版

Look for the silver lining
在绝望中寻找希望

Jul 17th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Piracy is a bad thing. But sometimes companies can turn it to their advantage
盗版是坏事，但有些公司能把其转为优势

“MERCHANT and pirate were for a long period one and the same person,” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche. “Even today mercantile morality is really nothing but a refinement of piratical morality.” Companies, of course, would strongly disagree with this suggestion. Piracy is generally bad for business. It can undermine sales of legitimate products, deprive a company of its valuable intellectual property and tarnish its brand. Commercial piracy may not be as horrific as the seaborne version off the Horn of Africa (see article). But stealing other people’s R&D, artistic endeavour or even journalism is still theft.
“商人和海盗很长一段时间都是同一类人” 尼采写道，”哪怕今天的商业道德也只不过是海盗道义的翻版。”当然，公司是绝对不同意此种说法。盗版总的来说是对生意不利，会影响正版产品销量，使公司丧失宝贵的知识产权，破坏品牌形象。商业盗版也许没有非洲之角的海盗那么可怕，但剽窃他人的科研成果，艺术创意，哪怕是新闻报道依然是一种盗窃行为。

That principle is worth defending. Yet companies have to deal with the real world-and, despite the best efforts of recorded-music companies, luxury-goods firms and software-industry associations, piracy has proved very hard to stop. Given that a certain amount of stealing is going to happen anyway, some companies are turning it to their advantage.
这个原则值得维护，然而公司还是得面对现实世界。可尽管唱片公司，奢侈品公司和软件协会尽了最大的努力，事实证明盗版还是难以阻止。既然一定数量的偷窃无法避免，一些公司正把其转化为优势。

For example, around 20 times as many music tracks are exchanged over the internet on “peer to peer” file-sharing networks as are legitimately sold online or in shops. Statistics about the traffic on file-sharing networks can be useful. They can reveal, for example, the countries where a new singer is most popular, even before his album has been released there. Having initially been reluctant to be seen exploiting this information, record companies are now making use of it (see article). This month BigChampagne, the main music-data analyser, is extending its monitoring service to pirated video, too. Knowing which TV programmes are being most widely passed around online can help broadcasters when negotiating with advertisers or planning schedules.
比如，现在通过点对点方式在网络上交换传播的音乐数量是在网络或实体店面合法销量的20倍左右。统计显示这些网络流量能够派上用场。比如他们能显示新歌手在那些国家受欢迎，哪怕唱片还没有在那里正式发行。唱片公司开始还不愿意使用这些信息，现在已经在好好利用了。本月，音乐数据分析公司”大香槟”已经把检测服务拓展到盗版视频。这样就能知道那些电视节目在网络上流传的最广，从而帮助广播公司与广告商谈价或者安排播出计划。

In other industries, piracy can help to open up new markets. Take software, for instance. Microsoft’s Windows operating system is used on 90% of PCs in China, but most copies are pirated. Officially, the software giant has taken a firm line against piracy. But unofficially, it admits that tolerating piracy of its products has given it huge market share and will boost revenues in the long term, because users stick with Microsoft’s products when they go legit. Clamping down too hard on pirates may also encourage people to switch to free, open-source alternatives. “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not,” Microsoft’s chairman, Bill Gates, told Fortune magazine last year.
在其他行业，盗版能帮助开拓新市场。比如在软件业，微软的视窗操作系统在中国使用率达到90%，但大多数都是盗版。这个软件巨头公开坚决反对盗版。但私下却承认容忍盗版能够助其抢占大量市场份额同时提高长期收益，因为客户转用正版后会继续选择微软产品。对盗版打击过严可能会驱使客户转用免费开源软件。比尔微软主席比尔盖茨在去年接受《财富杂志》采访时说到：”盗版使我们的软件同Linux竞争更加轻松。”

Another example, from agriculture, shows how piracy can literally seed a new market. Farmers in Brazil wanted to use genetically modified (GM) soyabean seeds that had been engineered by Monsanto to be herbicide-tolerant. The government, under pressure from green groups opposed to GM technology, held back. Unable to obtain the GM seeds legitimately, the farmers turned to pirated versions, many of them “Maradona” seeds brought in from Argentina. Eventually the pirated seeds accounted for over a third of Brazil’s soyabean plantings, and in 2005 the government relented and granted approval for the use of GM seeds. Monsanto could then start selling its seeds legitimately in Brazil.
再举一个农业的例子，看看盗版如何真正意义上在新市场播种萌芽。巴西的农民想播种基因改良大豆，该产品是由Monsanto公司改进，有对除草剂有很强的抵抗力。当地政府在反对基因改良技术的绿色组织的压力下颁布了禁令。农民无法从合法的渠道获得基因改良种子，只好使用盗版。很多这种所谓的 “Maradona”种子都来自阿根廷，最终在巴西种植的30%的大豆都是使用的盗版种子。2005年政府政策放宽允许使用基因改良种子，Monsanto公司到那时才能合法的在巴西销售其种子。

Innovators ahoy
嘿！~革新者

Piracy can also be a source of innovation, if someone takes a product and then modifies it in a popular way. In music unofficial remixes can boost sales of the original work. And in a recent book, “The Pirate’s Dilemma”, Matt Mason gives the example of Nigo, a Japanese designer who took Air Force 1 trainers made by Nike, removed the famous “swoosh” logo, applied his own designs and then sold the resulting shoes in limited editions at $300 a pair under his own label, A Bathing Ape. Instead of suing Nigo, Nike realised that he had spotted a gap in the market. It took a stake in his firm and also launched its own premium “remixes” of its trainers. Mr Mason argues that “the best way to profit from pirates is to copy them.”
如果有人得到产品然后进行修改使其大受欢迎，盗版也能成为创新之源。在音乐行业，非官方的混音版也能促进原版销售。在最近出版的《盗版的悖论》这本书中，作者Matt Mason以日本设计师Nigo为例。后者把耐克的空军一号牌运动鞋改装，去掉著名的构形商标，加上自己的设计然后以其品牌”洗澡猩猩”的名义，开价300美元一双销售此限量版。耐克公司没有起诉Nigo反而意识到他填补了一个市场空白。耐克便买下了Nigo公司一部分股份并推出了自己的”混合版”超值运动鞋系列。 Mason先生认为”从盗版中获利的最好方法就是模仿盗版。”

That this silver lining exists should not obscure the cloud. Most of the time, companies will decide to combat piracy of their products by sending in the lawyers with all guns blazing. And most of the time that is the right thing to do. But before they rush into action companies should check to see if there is a way for them to turn piracy to their advantage.
这绝望中的一丝希望应该不是空中楼阁。大多数时候，决心与对抗盗版的公司都预备气势汹汹的派去律师。但在它们付诸行动之前应当考虑一下如何才能把盗版转化为优势。

译者：xcz2     http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12751&extra=page%3D1