Bangalore: The U.S. government released America’s official piracy radar of 2012, a highest priority watch list of countries with highest piracy.
Many countries including India made it to the top 10 of the priority watch list, which said, “Online piracy is rapidly supplanting physical piracy in many markets around the world.” The list hopes to shame governments into cracking down on piracy and counterfeiting and updating their copyright laws.
Here are the high priority Pirate countries.
Russia
Russia is a hotbed of piracy where no copyright laws are followed. As an entertainment industry expert states it, “They’ll pirate everything in Russia.” It was Russia's 16th straight year on the list. But recently, due to the hard pressure from the entertainment industry, Russia had started to crack down on infringement.
Pakistan
Illegal audio and video copying is flourishing in Pakistan despite global efforts against it. Widespread counterfeiting and piracy, particularly book and optical disc remains the reason to put country in the watch list. According to the IFPI, Pakistani replication facilities are producing in excess of 230 million copies a year.
Israel
Israel remains on the priority watch list. In additional to online piracy, the Cable piracy rate is high in Israel. Very high penetration rates of broadband Internet favor the digital pirates that make the latest movies, music and TV series nearly immediately available. At one time, the piracy levels of Israel had reached 50 percent. Insufficient local legislation and enforcement were poor in fighting increasing Internet piracy in Israel.
Indonesia
Indonesia is one country which consistently tops the world rankings for piracy on the Web. The report says, “While Indonesia has smade positive efforts in 2011 to strengthen (intellectual property rights) protections, the United States was still “concerned that Indonesia’s enforcement efforts have not been effective in addressing challenges such as growing piracy over the Internet and the widespread availability of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.
India
India remains on the Priority Watch List in 2012. The report says India’s legal framework and enforcement system remain weak. The challenge of piracy over the Internet continues to grow and the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, which India had passed in 2010 appears to have stalled.
China
Even though China remains under Government’s Big Wall of protection, the piracy rate in the country is high. 99% of all music downloads in China are illegal. The country has been on the priority watch list for eight years and subject to a special monitoring program. A wide range of rights holders reports serious obstacles to effective protection and enforcement of all forms of Intellectual Property rights in China, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and protection of pharmaceutical test data.
Chile
Chile continues to rank high as one of the countries with the worst rates of copyright and Internet piracy offenders. Additional to the internet piracy, the film industry is most suffering from pirates in Chile. In 2009, Chilean piracy caused filmmakers losses of US$15 million.
Canada
Canada remains on the Priority Watch List in 2012. The piracy watchdogs are forcing Canada to enact the long awaited copyright legislation, which will help the country to control piracy to some extend. According to the report, Canada's place on the list was "subject to review" if it enacts the legislation. Recently, the Government of Canada has given priority to the legislation.
Argentina
Eventhough Argentina progress in taking action against the unauthorized distribution of pirated content over the Internet, the judicial system of the country remains inefficient to control the widespread availability of pirated and counterfeit goods.
Algeria
Algeria remains on the Priority Watch List in 2012. The country had a low which bans the import of many products to favor the manufacture of local products. There is no protection against the unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure of data, in the country.
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