Topic: Over the past decade, the free trade movement has come under increasing fire as markets have opened and barriers to trade have fallen. Consider the arguments for and against free trade, considering the perspectives of both more-developed and less-developed countries.
Please post to all questions below. Post a separate reply to each learning activity. Be sure to use the learning activity number in responding:
Learning Activity #1
Do you believe that the benefits of free trade outweigh the drawbacks? Why or why not?
Learning Activity #2
Discuss the potential problems that would arise from exporting CDs and books to countries with high political risk. What might happen to sales in these countries?

Learning Activity #2
Discuss the potential problems that would arise from exporting CDs and books to countries with high political risk. What might happen to sales in these countries?

Intellectual property, which include copyrights, patents, trademarks, and brand names, is a vital asset of most MNCs (multinational corporations) and a major problem in the export of CDs and books to politically high risk countries due to the growing threat of theft or piracy of intellectual property rights (IPR). In 1995 alone, according to the Washington-based International Intellectual Property Alliance, it was projected that nearly $15 billion in revenues from U.S. companies around the world had been lost to IPR piracy, that figure has since climbed dramatically. Of the $15 billion that was lost in 1995, 41% of it stemmed from Asia Pacific countries with China leading the pack producing over $2.3 billion in fraudulent CDs, books, movies, and software for domestic use and to flood the export market (Strizzi, Kindra,ND). In 2003, for every three CDs sold throughout the world one was a pirate copy. If one adds music cassettes into the mix that accounts for 40% of