Piracy in Bangladesh irks WTO, US

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Foreign films, music, and software etc are being pirated in Bangladesh at unprecedented levels, which has drawn fire from both the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United States (US) government, reports bdnews24.com.
The US Trade Representative recently included Bangladesh in its 'Watch List' for 2007 for what it terms 'intellectual property rights violations'. WTO also echoed the concerns in its Trade Policy Review last year.
However, despite the warning bells, the domestic regulators and the monitoring bodies have been slow to respond to the threat.
The US report singled out Bangladeshi optical disc plants for their involvement in foreign music and movie piracy. They asked the government to address the issue immediately.
There are currently five optical disc plants operating in the country, and another has recently gone out of business, according to the industry sources.
The US 'Watch List' or Special 301 Report for 2007 claims some of these plants are owned by Pakistani nationals, who relocated their businesses to Bangladesh following a government crackdown over the last two years in their home country.
"All of these plants are involved in large-scale piracy operations, and at least four of them are engaged in production of pirated international music, software, and the US movies," said the report.
These plants are relatively efficient, with one plant capable of producing 40,000 - 50,000 discs per day in all formats.
Industry insiders said, these pirated products are largely aimed at the domestic market although some end up in India and Europe.
The report added, "Relatively small shipments of 900 to 1,000 discs are apparently being smuggled out of the country via parcel shipments using the main post office in Dhaka."
It added, however, that the industry has few details regarding the content and exact quantities of pirate exports.
According to the industry experts, up to 85 per cent of the domestically produced music, films and software are pirated with virtually cent per cent of the foreign productions illegally copied.
The US report estimated that that there are as many as 60 recordable CD (CD-R) duplicating factories are presently operating in the country.
"They range from sophisticated European standalone duplicators to PC workstation duplicators," said the report.