U.S. global piracy losses estimated at $9.2 billion

At a lower level of severity is the priority watch list. Already containing Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Philippines, Russia, and Taiwan, the IIPA has recommended that the Bahamas, Bolivia, Kuwait, Lithuania, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, and Thailand be added to this category.

IIPA placed a further 33 countries on a standard watch list, while seven other countries were described as deserving further attention but were not placed on a formal list.

The relative level and the absolute amount of piracy are not the only criteria used by IIPA to gauge the level at which it grades individual countries.

Thus Brazil, with overall piracy rates of around 50 percent, is on IIPA's priority watch list, while Peru, where records and music software piracy is estimated at 98 percent, remains on the ordinary watch list. Vietnam, where software piracy is estimated by the BSA to reach 99 percent and where music and video piracy is also rife, is not included on any IIPA list.

According to IIPA, absolute piracy losses are greatest in China, reaching $1.85 billion in 2002. IIPA estimated motion picture piracy in China at 91 percent, records and music piracy at 90 percent, business software piracy at 93 percent, and entertainment software piracy at 96 percent.

The full report can be found online at http://www.iipa.com/special301_TOCs/2002_SPEC301_TOC.html.