CONGRESSIONAL PANEL HITS FIVE COUNTRIES FOR PIRACY

The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, which monitors online piracy, said Thursday that it will continue to focus its attention on five countries where piracy remains rampant. The countries, Canada, China, Mexico, Russia and Spain, are the same ones that the panel focused on a year ago, and they remain on the list, it said, because “no meaningful progress has been made to enforce intellectual property rights.” The CIAPC noted that some of the countries host websites that engage in illegally copying copyrighted material created by Americans. Moreover, it added, “Organized crime has become heavily involved in foreign DVD and CD piracy. Criminals are using the same formidable distribution network and resources that were developed for drug trafficking and arms smuggling. The result, in these and other countries, is a virtual evisceration of the legitimate market for American entertainment.”