India in top 5 on US watch-list for copyright piracy

A US Congressional caucus has expressed concern over the ''alarming'' level of copyright piracy in four countries - China, Russia, Switzerland and India. It has added India to its watch list this year.

The '2014 International Piracy Watch List' compiled by the International Creativity and Theft-Prevention Caucus highlights the high levels of piracy and the lack of legal protections for copyright in China, Russia, Switzerland and India.

"India continues to present a seriously flawed environment for the promotion of copyright and Intellectual Property," the report said, adding that the Caucus has added India to the 2014 Watch List. It further announced that it would conduct an 'out-of-cycle review' of Indian progress later this year.

"Despite a large domestic creative industry in film, music, and other copyright intensive industries, India continues to lag badly in both the legal framework for protection of IP and enforcement priorities,'' the report said.

''Among the continuing issues in India are extremely high rates of camcording piracy, high levels of unlicensed software use by enterprises, and a lack of effective notice-and-takedown procedures for online piracy," the report said.

"Whether it is movie makers, musicians, or and app makers, our economy is based upon the principle that property should be respected, not stolen - and this right does not end at the water's edge.

''This is not only fair, but it is good economics," said Congressman Adam Schiff.