in China
certain rules and regulations have very blurred outlines compared to the rest of the world.
Apple’s legal troubles in China took a turn for the worse at the weekend after it emerged that a group of writers filed a 50 million yuan (£5m) lawsuit alleging that the fruity tech giant is illegally selling unlicensed copies of their books on its App Store. State-run news agency Xinhua reported that the 22 writers, who have …
I don't know where AC is from, but maybe you should look to the mote in your own eye. The UK leads the world in blurred rules (that's why, among other things, the financial sector thrives so well in London and UK-protected offshore locations).
China is so maligned in our press that I checked with my publisher when I encountered a chinese edition of my own book. But of course it turned out to be completely legitimate, and appeared on a subsequent royalty statement.
Pretty certain it's copyright infringement rather IP theft.
Where has the case been filed? China or the US?
Commercial copyright infringement is punishable by the company having to pay a fine then pay back to the legitimate copyright holder unless it knew about about the copyright infringement in the first place and didn't remove the offending content, in which case the court would award damages.
If this suit was filed in the US, Apple can pull the books from the store, payback whoever owns the copyright the profit on the 30% of each sale and pay a fine.
Then sue whoever submitted the books to recoup the loss if they care enough.
That all assumes the case goes against apple, which it may not
Well, why not coin a new set of terms:
Fince
Gremp
What happens if a pimp extorts a fence, or a fence manipulates a pimp? How about pimp on pimp or fence on fence?
And, what of fences and pimps working in government? Or agents using pimps and fences to go after bigger pimps and fences?
(Sawn of Spaten (Spoonerism))
It's not fencing when a big multinational does it. What these companies are guilty of is intentional stealing of protected information and profiting off it with 100% knowledge of what they're doing.
It is a shame Apple, Google, Amazon and others are above the law, but download or host a song and your house will be illegally raided by the FBI.
Apple is the one making copies so they are infringing copyright . The company that licensed the copyright to Apple might be committing fraud by licensing things they don't have the rights to.
Neither action is theft.
The companies you name are not above the law. Google has been fined for breaking the law for example.
The case hasn't been tried, no one has been proven guilty of anything yet.