Technology
Malta not included in USA piracy watch list
By MaltaMedia News
May 2, 2007 - 4:20:12 PM

Malta was not included in a list 33 countries which are being monitored by the United States of America’s President George W. Bush administration where piracy of copyrighted material is concerned. 

Piracy of copyrighted material is relatively common in the island, with Police often seizing counterfeit CDs, DVDs and videogames among other material.

China, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Egypt, India, Israel, Lebanon, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela were placed on a targeted "priority watch list" for failing to sufficiently protect American producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material from widespread piracy, reported The Washington Post, while 31 countries were placed on lower level monitoring lists, indicating the concerns about copyright violations in those nations did not warrant the highest level of scrutiny.

The countries placed on a lower-level watch list were Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, South Korea, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Being on the "priority watch list" could eventually lead to economic sanctions if the administration decides to bring trade cases before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The designations occurred in a report that the administration is required to provide Congress each year highlighting problems American companies are facing around the world with copyright piracy, which they contend is costing them billions of dollars in lost sales annually, added The Washington Post.

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