GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple says Tuesday 20 March that 3 million of its new iPads have been sold since they hit the market Friday, four days earlier. It announced Monday that it will be paying investors dividends later this year, for the first time since 1995. But not everyone is happy. A group of 22 well-known writers in China are suing Apple for copyright infringement, saying their e-book versions of their works have appeared in the Apple store without their permission or involvement.
They are seeking $7.9 million in damages.
It’s the 14th year running that Russia has made the US list for countries that don’t do enough to fight pirated goods, and the 7th year for China. The 2011 list was released by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Washington, who called on the many countries on the “Special 301 Report” list to do more to crack down on copyright fraud. He said in a statement that US companies lost $18 billion in 2010 to fake copies, affecting 18 million Americans who work in industries affected by the frauds.
Canada and India are among the countries listed.
Kirk’s office in a statement noted that “America’s two largest trading partners, Canada and China, remain on the Priority Watch List. The report notes the failure of Canadian efforts in 2010 to enact long-awaited copyright legislation and to strengthen border enforcement. It highlights ongoing concerns about the prevalence of piracy and counterfeiting in China, and China’s implementation of ‘indigenous innovation’ and other industrial policies that discriminate against or otherwise disadvantage US exports and US investors.”
Links to other sites: Moscow Times, Scribd, US report, US Trade Representative’s Office
Kenya is the country with the highest number of high seas piracy cases, with 123 people held to date, of whom 18 have been convicted, according to AllAfrica. A new high security courtroom in the port city of Mombasa, to try piracy suspects, has just been opened. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the government of Kenya funded the new centre to try to ease the burden on Kenya’s judicial system; most of the suspects were seized off the coast of Somalia. The number of cases of piracy off the coast of East Africa rose seven-fold from 2005-2009.
Foreign Minister Carme Chacón said Wednesday that she will propose to EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels next Monday and Tuesday that the EU’s anti-piracy campaign in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, Operation Atalanta, change its strategy, and that it blockade three ports that she says are the source of the pirate attacks in the area. Somali pirates use “mother ships” to travel vast distances to attack freighters in the shipping lanes joining Europe with Asia.
Somali pirates are currently holding 12 ships, including one Spanish ship, the Alakrana, with 36 crew aboard, captured 2 October. Two days later, A Spanish ship captured two presumed pirates who are being tried in Spain. From Somalia the pirates have demanded that they be released as part of a deal to release the ship and the crew. Spanish officials have said that one option would be to sign a prisoner exchange agreement with the Somali provisional government, which would allow the two pirates to serve out their sentence in Somalia, once they have been sentenced. AFP, El Pais (Spa)
Pirates holding a Taiwanese-flagged ship since 6 April off the coast of Somalia fired on a US Navy helicopter that was monitoring it, 26 August. The US Navy says that the helicopter was not hit and the crew did not return fire. The Win Far was captured 6 April and has been used by the pirates to launch attacks on other ships, most notably the US-flagged Maersk Alabama. That attack ended when Navy snipers killed three of the pirates holding the American captain. The coast off Somalia, which has had no functioning government since 1991, is particularly prone to piracy, according to the International Maritime Bureau which montitors piracy world-wide.
Update 12:30. Russia’s defense minister has confirmed that the Arctic Sea, a Malta-registered ship found off Cape Verde 17 August was the victim of a pirate attack 24 July. Eight men including Russians, Estonians and Latvians have been arrested. BBC, CNN
The Arctic Sea, a cargo ship that loaded timber in Finland and was en route from the Baltic Sea to Bejaia, Algeria when it went missing, has been located in the Atlantic ocean off the Cape Verde islands. A Russian warship took the crew off the ship and is interrogating them to find out what happened. The crew is in good health, according to the Russian government.
The ship, with a 15-man Russian crew, was last heard from by British authorities 24 July as it went through the English Channel. The ship’s crew informed authorities then that it had been boarded by 8-12 armed masked men wearing uniforms with the word “police” on them. The men disembarked a day later in a rubber dinghy, the crew said. BBC, CNN, Moscow Times
Statues of "peace" and "justice" flank the entrance to the WTO, Geneva: artist Luc Jaggi sculpted them in 1925
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - China reacted with disappointment Thursday 13 August to the report issued by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva on its publications and audiovisual materials dispute with the US. The WTO ruled that China must open its market more to the import of US films, DVDs, books and music downloads to respect commitments made when it joined the WTO in 2001.
Subtle with the Swiss flags
Expect fireworks
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland celebrates its National Day 1 August, a time when families tend to get together and the Swiss return to their “home” towns, which is not necessarily where they grew up, but the town where their family is registered.
Watch those fireworks
Expect bonfires and fireworks: some 1,700 tons of pyrotechnics are sold every year. Keep in mind the federal government’s recommendations to avoid these if you have cardiovascular or respiratory system problems because they sharply increase, for a short period, the fine dust particles in the air. And if you’re setting off fireworks, remember that they provoke serious stress for animals, Bern says, so don’t do it near them.
The annual August holiday provokes on average 250 accidents related to fireworks, and fires cause some CHF4 million in damage. Safety tips, Swiss Bureau for the Prevention of Accidents (Fre)
The bonfires are part of an old Swiss tradition, particularly in the Alps, where one village could warn another of impending attacks by lighting a bonfire, easily visible at a great distance.
Homeward bound, cheaply
The CFF rail company is offering a special “Homecoming days” deal to all Swiss to take the train for CHF15, 1 and 2 August, when they return to their place of origin, as it’s known. The deal is good between your home town and your place of residence, as they appear on a Swiss identity card or passport.
The meaning of 1 August, Switzerland’s National Day
Go back to 1291 for the source of this holiday that recalls a day in early August, over 700 years ago, when three independent republics signed a pact to protect each other. (Ed. note: if you’re feeling weak on knowledge of Swiss politics, geography, culture and history, a new board game in English will be launched 1 August, Helvetiq, offering 312 question/answer cards to make you an expert. See our GenevaLunch review of the game)
The French parliament is expected to pass a “Draconian” Internet piracy law today. People caught illegally downloading copyrighted material would be given three warnings before their Internet access was cut off for a year. The proposed legislation could run afoul of the Eurpean Convention of Human Rights, however, reports the Financial Times, which says it would then be tied up in a lengthy legal battle.
The Chinese government has been cracking down on the “wiley” population of street vendors who hawk counterfeit goods, but the hawkers are fighting back in a battle that highlights an underlying problem: “China’s government has pledged to crack down, and it faces increasing pressure to show progress. But some doubt much will change until China graduates from manufacturing goods to designing them, and has more to lose than gain.” International Herald Tribune
