IP: Sony chief in broadband warning to US

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: <Marco.Chong () swisscom com>
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:03:14 +0200
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Sony chief in broadband warning to US


Sony chief in broadband warning to US By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo
Published: June 12 2002 19:02 | Last Updated: June 12 2002 20:22
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1023858925389&p=1012571727260
Japan and other Asian countries could overtake the US in broadband
technology over the next decade if the US government does not formulate a
clear broadband strategy and rules for intellectual property protection, the
chairman of Sony warned on Wednesday.
"I think [Japan] should be a leader in broadband," Nobuyuki Idei said. "The
American government is today busy fighting against other things."
The US government appeared content to leave the development of the industry
to market forces, Mr Idei said. Such free market policies were not going to
help the US become a leader in the new broadband era.
"The rule of the government is quite important when technology changes," Mr
Idei said. However, the FCC (the US telecommunications regulator), had so
far failed to take any action to draw up rules for new technologies.
The comments highlight the double threat Sony faces from the rise of China
and Korea as manufacturing powerhouses and the damage to intellectual
property because of the spread of the internet. Sony owns both a film studio
and music recording company in the US and relies for more than 30 per cent
of its revenues on the US market.
Mr Idei identified three weaknesses in the US economy. "You see a lot of
problems of the Japanese economy but I see a lot of problems in America," he
said.
"America has no one standard for its mobile phone system. And yet I don't
know what the future plan is because it is a free economy. In America, three
systems co-exist. It's confusion. This is a weakness of America as number
one. The second weakness is that there is no strategy for broadband."
The third problem in the US was the lack of a law regulating the free
distribution of copyrighted music and pictures on the net.
Failure to draw up such a law was a serious threat to societies that rely on
intellectual property, Mr Idei said. "For the knowledge society, I think
that proper intellectual property or copyright protection is an essential
factor to compete with countries such as China and Japan."
If the American government did not take the initiative to make the US a
broadband leader, "Japan and Korea and China could be the leaders", he said.
This was partly because Asian cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai
were suited to broadband connection, with a high population concentration in
small areas.
"While America is sleeping, and while America criticises Japan's past 10
years as the lost decade, we are working ahead for the future 10 years," Mr
Idei said.



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