Counterfeiting statistics are wildly inflated and include patent, copyright, and physical counterfeits

MATTHEW SCHRUERS: We're just talking about the scale of the problem. And I would note that all of these statistics that we're looking at are by their own terms, wildly inflated relative to the problem that we're talking about. First of all, many of them are the upper range and so we get a site of between X and Y. And Y is the top figure and then Y becomes the figure, so. We need to realize that -- that the outer bound is not the median figure.

Secondly, most of these figures apply and include copyright piracy, patent infringement. And -- and I'll be the first to acknowledge that infringement in foreign markets that have weak rule of law is a serious policy problem. That is not the problem that -- that we're talking about here. This bill is not going to do anything about pirated software in China.

It's not going to prevent patent infringement. It's -- it's not going to prevent the sale of -- a physical sale of a bootleg handbag on the street of Moscow, right? This is just about regulating online platforms. And those numbers are wildly over inclusive based on what we're talking about here. So I think we have to take these numbers with many grains of salt.