MUSIC: Top 12 countries – piracy havens

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a top of the countries in which american products are being pirated. We’re not talking just about music (offline or online), but also about movies, TV shows, games, software programs etc.

Romania is pretty low on the Watch List, but the document tells us a lot of important things, many of which I’ve talked about on this blog, or which have been talked about by other artists/ composers on the Drepturile.ro blog.

On the other hand, I can’t help but notice that the first two spots are occupied by the countries that have had the biggest economical evolutions in the last years. It’s weird that Brasil isn’t among the top 12 countries with a high level of piracy, considering the fact that it is a famous example of the anti-copyright market (and of powerful economic growth in the last 10 years).

What should we understand from this “coincidence”? That the lack of copyright laws helps the economy of a country, or viceversa: an emerging economy leads to the breaking of legal barriers regarding copyright? Or is it just in poor, where citisens can’t afford expensive cultural products and resort to piracy?

PRIORITY WATCH LIST

1. China
2. Russia
3. Algeria
4. Argentina
5. Chile
6. Canada
7. India
8. Indonesia
9. Israel
10. Pakistan
11. Thailand

Here is what the report on the Copyright situation in Romania:

Romania remains on the Watch List.

Romania took some positive steps in 2010 by disseminating manuals on addressing software
piracy and by issuing instructions for interagency cooperation.

Romanian officials have also actively participated in IPR training programs. However, the
United States is concerned by an apparent decrease in commitment to IPR enforcement in
Romania, reflected for example in reduced cooperation among enforcement authorities,
decreased cooperation of police and prosecutors with rights holders, and a decrease in the
number of enforcement actions. These developments may have resulted both from budgetary
factors and from amendments to the criminal procedure code.

Moreover, while the availability of infringing optical discs has decreased, piracy over the
Internet, especially peer-to-peer downloading, continues to increase, and enforcement efforts
have not addressed the problem effectively. The United States will monitor the effects of recent
changes to the Penal Code which, among other things, provide for IPR cases to be adjudicated in
lower-level courts, whose judges and prosecutors have much less IPR expertise.

There is concern that this could have a negative impact on prosecutions and sentencing in IPR
cases. The United States urges Romania to take steps to address judicial delays and the lack of
deterrent-level sentences.

The United States will continue to work with Romania to address these and other concerns.