They could point over at the most populated country on earth, which is much stronger evidence than I have ever heard for any "downloads don't equal less sales" position.
Not that I think anyone actually believes that each download is equivalent to a lost sale, but each download is still illegal, and more to the point, arguing it isn't a 1-to-1 ratio (thereby "admitting" that some downloads are harmless) probably wouldn't be a good legal tack for them to take.
Not that I think anyone actually believes that each download is equivalent to a lost sale, but each download is still illegal, and more to the point, arguing it isn't a 1-to-1 ratio (thereby "admitting" that some downloads are harmless) probably wouldn't be a good legal tack for them to take.