Israel's IPR Irony
The Current Discussion:Software and media piracy costs U.S. businesses as much as US$58 billion a year. Will the U.S.'s anti-piracy report announced last week do any good? If not, what will?
It is ironic that Israel -- the country with which the U.S. has a "special relationship," the country with which the U.S. shares so many "values," the country with which the U.S. shares the Judeo-Christian ethos with that includes Thou shalt not steal -- is among the top seven countries that are stealing from America's creative talent. But unlike China and Russia, the U.S. has a number of vices against Israel, including the fact that the U.S. contributes to Israel at least $3 billion in no-questions-asked, direct military and civilian aid and much more in tax-deductible contributions. Wouldn't it be fair if the U.S. would deduct some of its losses in intellectual property from some of this undeserved generosity of the American taxpayers?

