Technology has two sides to it – positive and negative. And, in whichever industry it is applied, the boon and the bane of the technology oozes out, creating sizzles across the sector. While the media and entertainment industry has benefited a great deal from the ever-changing, sophisticated technology; it is equally prone to the biggest evil of technology – the piracy.
In India, Delhi’s Nehru Place and Palika Bazaar are identified as the biggest few markets in the world, for pirated and counterfeited products related to computer hardware and software, by a US agency. That’s not all! Even Mumbai’s famous Manish Market, Heera Panna and Lamington road are listed as piracy hubs of India.
In fact, China’s popular website Baidu – largest MP3 search engine regionally – also finds its name in the list, by the US music industry, for the vast majority of the illegal downloads in China.
The US Trade Representative has prepared a ‘Notorious Markets List’ with more than 30 internet and physical markets that are thriving hubs of pirated products. It has pegged the worldwide value for pirated products to be $1.78 trillion by 2015.
World’s Top Piracy Markets [Online & Offline]
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Top Internet Piracy Markets |
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Baidu (China) website – China-based MP3 search engine for illegal music downloads in China. |
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Alibaba (China) website – Infringing products from B2B and B2C segments. |
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Taobao (China) website – Infringing products from B2B and B2C segments. |
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Clones sites in line of Allofmp3 pirate music website in Russia involved in illegal distribution. |
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Top Physical Piracy Markets |
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Silk Street Market (Beijing, China) – counterfeiting of consumer & industrial products. |
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China Small Commodities Market. (Yiwu, China) – Mostly small consumer goods. |
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Gorbushka (Moscow, Russia) – Consumer electronics market |
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Rubin Trade Centre (Moscow, Russia) – Piracy |
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Savelovskiy Market (Moscow, Russia) – Pirated goods in Electronics market |
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Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) – pirated optical discs |
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Tri-Border Region (Paraguay, Argentina & Brazil) |
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Tepito, Plaza Meave, Eje Central, Lomas Verdes and Pericoapa Bazaar (Mexico City) – Pirated audio-visual materials |
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Simitrio-La Cuchilla (Puebla, Mexico) |
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San Juan de Dios (Guadalajara) |
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Las Pulgas (Monterrey) |
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Czech Border Markets (Czech Republic) – Czech borders with Germany and Austria – IPR infringing goods. |
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Polish Markets (Silesia, Kracow, Wroclaw, Poland/Germany border) |
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La Salada (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – Sale of counterfeit goods. |
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Neighbourhood of Quiapo (Manila, Philippines) – Binondo, Greenhills, Makati Cinema Square, and Metrowalk: Pirated merchandise. |
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Harco Glodok (Jakarta, Indonesia) – Pirated optical discs. |
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Panthip Plaza, MBK Center, Klong Thom, Patpong, Sukhumvit Road (Bangkok, Thailand) |
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Nehru Place and Palika Bazaar (New Delhi, India) – Pirated DVDs and CDs. |
Don’t you feel the piracy problem is here to stay for as long as we live?