Software piracy

“ However, the United States is encouraged by recent convictions against companies for business software piracy, and by the indictment of a company and website administrator for enabling infringement on a peer-to-peer network. ”

“ Saudi Arabia has made progress in improving its enforcement activities against copyright piracy, particularly for motion pictures and sound recordings. However, serious copyright problems remain particularly regarding computer software piracy, including end-user piracy. Saudi Arabia's copyright law contains deficiencies making it incompatible with international standards, including an inadequate term of protection. The United States is concerned about the slow pace of implementation and enforcement of IPR legislation. ”

“ The United States encourages Turkey to build upon this progress and to take at least the following steps: continue to address copyright piracy, including book piracy, business software piracy in the private sector, and government use of legal software, as well as increase judicial efficiency and reduce backlogs of court cases by allocating sufficient resources to the judiciary. ”

“ It shall be the policy of the United States Government that each executive agency shall work diligently to prevent and combat computer software piracy in order to give effect to copyrights associated with computer software by observing the relevant provisions of international agreements in effect in the United States, including applicable provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and relevant provisions of Federal law, including the Copyright Act. ”

“ Internet piracy is growing, particularly in the areas of music hosting, entertainment software and pirated video games. Although some progress has been made in the area of end-user business software piracy, unlicensed use of business software by government ministries remains a serious concern. The United States urges the Government of Latvia to implement its IPR action plan to both amend current laws and enact new laws that will provide stronger IPR protection and enforcement measures, such as civil ex parte searches. ”

“ However, we are concerned with the explosion of copyright piracy within its borders. U.S. industry continues to raise concerns about the overall environment for production, sale, and export of a wide range of infringing products and the impunity accorded well-connected figures involved in infringement. Optical media piracy, including business and entertainment software, and increasing production and export of pirate CDs remains a particularly acute problem. Signal theft/cable piracy continues to be widespread. ”

“ Apart from clamping down on pirated optical discs activities at the manufacture, storage, retail and import/export levels, the C&ED strives to fight against corporate piracy, namely, the use of pirated software and copyright works for commercial purposes. Moreover, four Anti-Internet-Piracy Teams have been established to fight against piracy activities on the Internet. The Customs Computer Forensic Laboratory offers professional assistance in collecting, preserving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence to law court in piracy cases. ”

“ In addition, pervasive cable piracy continues to devastate legitimate theatrical, video, and television service providers. End-user piracy of computer software is pervasive among large companies, banks, trading companies, and most government ministries. Also troubling is an overly broad software exception for certain educational uses in the new copyright law that seriously undermines the viability of this market for legitimate products. ”

“ Egypt has acknowledged that its IPR law is not fully TRIPS-consistent, and the U.S. Government welcomes Egypt's commitment to address deficiencies in its IPR law, in large part through implementing regulations. Improved enforcement must also be a priority. Much work remains to be done in countering photocopy and reprint piracy, retail piracy, corporate end-user software piracy, piracy of console-based and PC-based video game platforms and increasing efforts to end pirate distribution on the basis of false licenses. ”

“ With respect to enforcement, the level of activity undertaken by enforcement officials has been insufficient to deter piracy. While the government has been working with the U.S. copyright-based industries to conduct some raids, overall enforcement is not carried out with sufficient regularity and is not accompanied by the appropriate level of publicity and sentences to reduce the level of piracy. The use of unauthorized computer software in government offices also remains a problem. ”

“ Chinese counterfeit products include pharmaceuticals, electronics, batteries, auto parts, industrial equipment, toys, and many other products that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of consumers in the United States, China and elsewhere. The U.S. copyright industries estimate that losses due to piracy in China were approximately $3.5 billion for the music recording and business software industries alone. While Internet piracy continues to grow, trade in illegal optical discs also continues to thrive, supplied by both licensed and unlicensed factories and by smugglers. ”

“ While the software industry reports a decline in piracy rates in 2011 resulting from civil and criminal enforcement efforts and advances in the government's use of legitimate software, the book/journal publishing, entertainment software, motion picture and movie industries continue to face serious challenges with respect to IPR enforcement in Russia. ”

“ Although there has been some progress on IPR enforcement, including a series of court decisions against businesses that facilitate illegal filesharing, the United States urges Korea to accelerate its efforts to combat piracy of DVDs, computer software, and books, as well as to decrease street vendor sales of pirated and counterfeit goods and infringing activities on university campuses. ”

“ Due to Andean Community pressure, Peru continues to deny second-use patent protection for pharmaceuticals. On copyright protection, the Peruvian Government issued a software legalization decree in 2003 and took some steps toward improving enforcement, however, it has yet to approve the guidelines for software management. Piracy remains extremely high for sound recordings, textbooks, books, motion pictures, and software. Optical media piracy is on the rise in all sectors. ”

“ Should Bulgaria fail to maintain significant enforcement efforts against pirate production of CDs and software compilations on CD-ROMs, it will be identified as a priority foreign country as early as September.
The Dominican Republic is being elevated to the Priority Watch List because it continues to have inadequate enforcement of its existing laws and a legal regime that does not meet international standards. The government's actions to date to enforce the copyright law have not been sufficient to stem widespread piracy of video and audio tapes, compact discs, and software. ”

“ China has the opportunity to achieve real and transparent results for U.S. rights holders through implementation of the Action Plan. In addition to stepping up administrative and criminal action against trademark counterfeiting at the manufacturing, wholesale, and retail levels, the United States calls on China to launch and publicize significant administrative and criminal enforcement actions against optical media piracy, Internet piracy, software end-user piracy, and other forms of piracy affecting U.S. copyright owners. ”

“ Pirate optical media production, distribution and export is a significant and growing problem facing U.S. copyright industries. Industry estimates a 300 percent increase in pirate optical disk plants operating in Thailand from 1999. Industry asserts that Thailand has become a primary destination for criminal organizations seeking new bases of operation as controls on illicit wares tighten around the region. Further complicating the protection of IPR in Thailand is the fact that end-user piracy of business software is endemic, perhaps as high as 76 percent, according to industry estimates. ”

“ Internet piracy is increasing and end-user piracy of business software and other copyright materials, such as books and journals, remains a key concern. The share of IPR infringing product seizures of Chinese origin at the U.S. border increased to 69 percent in 2005 from 63 percent in 2004, while the total value of the IPR infringing goods from China decreased to $63.9 million in 2005 from $87.2 million in 2004. China's share of infringing goods seized at the border is more than ten times greater than that of any other U.S. trading partner. ”

“ The United States will examine closely China's implementation of the JI to determine whether its application addresses its underlying deficiencies and actually deters counterfeiting and piracy.
With regard to Internet piracy in particular, the JI provides that: "Distributing a written work, musical work, motion picture, television program or other visual work, computer software or other works to the public by information network" falls under the definition of 'reproducing and distributing' stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law." ”

“ End-user piracy of business software (particularly in companies) , trademark infringement, and problems in obtaining administrative protection for pharmaceuticals are persistent problems. Market access for products protected by IPRs needs improvement, and China has agreed to some improvements in market access for motion pictures, software and sound recordings in the context of the WTO accession negotiations. ”

“ In addition, new IP protections such as Decree 2085, which protects confidential test data for pharmaceutical products remain subject to legal challenge, and enforcement needs to be more effective. Piracy levels in Colombia amount to three-quarters of the market for recorded music and motion pictures, and half of the market for business software; the publishing industry continues to suffer from piracy, especially photocopying piracy. Piracy of music CDs is on the increase, threatening to erode legitimate markets altogether, mostly due to local, cottage-shop CD-R duplication. ”

“ After the U.S. initiated WTO dispute settlement against Pakistan, the Government of Pakistan changed its patent law and regulations to comply with TRIPS obligations to implement Articles 70.8 and 70.9 of TRIPs Agreement, the so-called "mailbox" and "exclusive marketing rights provisions". Problem areas include piracy of computer software, videos, books, and textile designs. Intellectual property piracy in Pakistan remains widespread. Pakistani authorities have taken steps to strengthen enforcement. However, fines applied to violators have been too small to provide a credible deterrent. ”