U.S. puts China, Russia on copyright piracy watch list

US PUT CHINA, RUSSIA ON COPYRIGHT PIRACY WATCH LIST
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
China, Russia and 10 other nations were targeted by the Bush administration Monday for failing to sufficiently protect U.S. producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material from widespread piracy. The Bush administration placed the 12 countries on a "priority watch list," which will subject them to extra scrutiny and could eventually lead to economic sanctions if the administration decides to bring trade cases before the World Trade Organization. An additional 31 countries were placed on lower-level monitoring lists, indicating that the concerns about copyright violations in those nations did not warrant the highest level of scrutiny. The designations occurred in a report that the administration is required to provide Congress each year highlighting problems that U.S. companies are facing around the world with copyright piracy, which they contend is costing them billions of dollars in lost sales annually.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-piracy1may01,1,2417181.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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