The Association of American Publishers (AAP) joined other copyright industry groups and the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus at a recent press conference to announce the countries at the top of the Caucus' 2008 Priority Watch List. The Caucus, chaired by Senators Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Gordon H. Smith and Representatives Adam B. Schiff and Bob Goodlatte, highlighted piracy problems in China, Russia and Canada for 2008. It applauded the actions brought against China in the WTO, recognising the need for further efforts to significantly curb piracy. It also highlighted developments in Spain, Greece, Mexico, Lebanon, Malaysia and Turkey.
Global piracy - including commercial scale photocopying, illegal print runs, unauthorised translations and CD-R burning of text - cost AAP member companies more than $500 million in 2007. Book and journal publishers doing business in the Chinese and Russian markets face massive Internet piracy that affects commercial bestsellers, academic books and journals, it has been observed. In addition, piracy of trade books - in English or translation - undercuts the ability of legitimate companies to do business in both countries. US publishers are similarly undermined by Canada's failure to strengthen its laws to enforce against Internet theft.
Malaysia's increased attention to enforcement against illegal commercial scale photocopying in and around universities is commendable, but more remains to be done, say US publishers. In particular, the Malaysian government needs to encourage the country's university community to actively cooperate in curbing theft of academic materials. Similarly, Mexico struggles with the problem of massive photocopying, while Lebanon and Turkey have substantial print piracy problems in addition to the illegal copying in academia. These governments have taken some positive steps, but AAP hopes that the attention focused on these markets by the Caucus report will prompt further action in areas affecting book and journal publishers.
AAP welcomes the Caucus' efforts to protect the US' important intellectual property assets, and looks forward to working with both the US and foreign governments in protecting global markets for the creative industries.
