The Chinese government is also a major purchaser of licensed software in a country where piracy is rampant.
Piracy is rampant in China, reaching a rate of more than 90% according to some estimates, but the Chinese Government has said it uses legally-registered copies.
Now the focus for big-budget flicks is on satisfying global audiences that can be lured into theatres while the buzz is strong, particularly in markets where piracy is rampant.
FORBES: China Scores Earlier Release, Extra Footage Of Disney's 'Iron Man 3'
Though the region suffers from rampant piracy, it mainly affects international shipping rather than locals.
For many years, the US government and many other US companies have battled with the rampant piracy in China.
That, plus China's rampant piracy, is why knowledge-based industries such as software love India but shun the Middle Kingdom.
How can musicians not in the thick of stardom make money in an age of streaming music and rampant piracy?
FORBES: Pandora Founder Reveals Big Earnings And High Fees For Musicians Online
Copyright owners blame the peer-to-peer networks for enabling rampant piracy, and say they're responsible for slumping music sales and lost revenue.
For several years Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) has complained of rampant piracy in China, with little success.
That is, unless it can cut down on rampant piracy in countries where there may be an additional 2.8 million willing (though not yet paying) customers.
Take China, where government regulations keep most Western movies off the shelves, but rampant piracy means that plenty of consumers own and have seen recent flicks like Spider-Man 2.
And people wonder why music piracy is so rampant.
ENGADGET: The Pipeline: Props to Circuits, Mossberg on ultralights, Wildstrom on the PSP
Other challenges Hollywood faces as it vies for its share of the Chinese box office -- now the world's second largest -- include rampant piracy and efforts by authorities to protect homegrown films.
Rampant piracy off Somalia has made the country's waters the world's most dangerous shipping lane, has secured Somali bandits tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and pushed up insurance premiums for ships.
The result of this convergence of interests is an absurd situation in which Time Warner tells consumers it would rather endure rampant piracy than take their money for online-only access to HBO.
FORBES: Glenn Beck And Dish Network: The Beginning Of The End For Pay TV Tyranny?
While the Blu-ray packages have proven to be a huge seller (even at a time when piracy is running rampant), this in no way confirms that the fans are willing to rush back into toy collecting.
FORBES: Is Hasbro a Good Buy or Just Another Investor Play-Thing?
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, Protect IP Act (PIPA), were ostensibly designed to deal with a very real problem: rampant piracy of copyrighted material by foreign websites, particularly those in China.
Rampant copyright piracy in Asia, especially in China, is a massive and intractable problem for the software, entertainment and luxury industries.
FORBES: Did Time Warner Really Try to Buy China's Help Fighting Piracy With Free Movies?
Console-based games giants Nintendo and Sony have steered clear of China, though privately imported boxes are available and Nintendo recently unveiled a games console designed especially to protect against the country's rampant software piracy.
Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ), which so rarely plays David, recently complained that rampant software piracy in China wasn't just for Chinese individuals earning a few thousand dollars a year.
Still, the incidents of piracy may not have been as rampant as in past Olympic Games.
It launched the iTunes music download service in 2003, rescuing the music industry amid rampant fears that online piracy would destroy it.
应用推荐