A recent effort to suppress illegal CDs in Bangkok saw government officials and the police harmed by the sellers of the illegal goods, a federation official pointed out.

Robert Youill, the federation's regional anti-piracy-enforcement coordinator, urged the government to seriously tackle the crime at all levels, from production to sales.

Although the government seizes illegal CDs from sellers, this is not enough to deal with the threat of intellectual property, he said, suggesting the government concentrate on the factories where the illegal CDs are made.

Youill noted that high profits in the music piracy industry made it difficult to combat piracy.

The IFPI said piracy of music products alone was worth US$5 billion (Bt175 billion) globally last year, or about one-third of the music industry's value.

Focusing on Thailand, Youill said he could not rate how serious the piracy situation was relative to other Asian countries but said it was unacceptable here and elsewhere in Asia.

Piracy continues to damage the legal music industry worldwide, he said. "The problem not only forces some companies to go bankrupt, but also has an enormous effect on millions of employees in the industry, whereas the pirates make a considerable profit for themselves," Youill said.

In order to combat the pirates, the Thai government and relevant agencies like the police and the Intellectual Property Department must be tough and uncompromising, said Youill. He added that Thailand had an effective law to deal with the crime, but it needed to be implemented in order to destroy illegal factories in the Kingdom.

He said Thailand had too many CD, VCD and DVD factories, which made it difficult for authorities to stamp out the illegal ones.

There are 38 CD manufacturers in the Kingdom, with about 100 CD-making machines.

Youill called this number too high and said the government should crack down on the ones that might be making illegal products.

Asked about the possibility that the US Trade Representative might downgrade Thailand from its Watch List to its Priority Watch List, which would make it subject to possible trade retaliation, Youill said Thailand would remain on the Watch List.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation