To help control such problems and smooth the progress of international trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed.
为帮助控制这样的问题和促进国际贸易平稳发展,世界贸易组织(WTO)成立了。
The WTO passes laws to protect intellectual property.
世界贸易组织通过了法律来保护知识产权。
One of the conditions of belonging to the organization is that these laws must be put into effect by member countries.
加入该组织的条件之一就是这些法律在成员国必须执行。
For exmple, when you enter a country which is a member of the WTO, your luggage may be inspected by customs to make sure that you are not trying to import pirated goods, or the police may check street stands and shops to make sure that the goods they are selling are authenic.
例如,当你进入世贸组织成员国时,你的行李可能会被海关检查,确保你没有企图携带盗版物品,或者警察会检查街边货摊和商店,确保他们所出售的商品是正品。
Some people may think that since they are not running a business or stealing business ideas, intellectual property laws do not affect them .
有人可能以为如果他们没有经商或者偷窃商业创意,知识产权法律就不会影响到他们。
However, in everyday life, we are now faced with decisions about how to respect intellectual property rights.
但是,在日常生活中,我们现在面临着如何保护知识产权的决定。
For example, most people have downloaded videos free from the Internet.
例如,大多数人从网上免费下载视频资料。
Many have also copied and shared computer software. All of this is illegal.
许多人复制并共享了计算机软件。所有这些都是违法的。
In 2005 alone, film companies in Hollywood lost around $3 to $4 billion because of illegal copying and downloading from the Internet.
仅2005年一年中,由于非法复制和网络非法下载,好莱坞的电影公司就损失了大约30至40亿美元。
In 2009, 41 per cent of software on computers worldwide was pirated, which equaled a loss of $53 billion for the people who made the software.
在2003年,全世界电脑中41%的软件是盗版的,这对原开发者来说相当于530亿美元的损失。
Even more widespread is the copying of music, especially with the development of new computer programmes.
更广为流传的问题是音乐的拷贝,尤其是随着新电脑程序的发展。