Yarr, that they be.

No, but they used to be. Back in the 1800's Charles Dickens, the famous English author, visited the U.S. and complained that his books were being sold here in violation of his copyright. In other words, he wasn't getting the money that was due him. The practice was widespread in the U.S. at that time. Americans complain about the Chinese pirating U.S. brands, but they forget that if the full price was charged, most Chinese would not be able to afford the products anyway. Eventually, the Chinese must honor brand names and stop producing pirated products, certainly. But in the short-term, they aren't doing anything that we Americans didn't do before.

yes.