Baidu, BitTorrent sites among 'notorious markets' for piracy

The Chinese search engine Baidu and sites that index and track the file-sharing service BitTorrent highlighted the U.S. Trade Representative's list of notorious physical and online markets for counterfeiting and piracy.

“Piracy and counterfeiting undermine the innovation and creativity that is vital to our global competitiveness. These notorious markets not only hurt American workers and businesses, but are threats to entrepreneurs and industries around the world,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

This list is not exhaustive, but attempts to provide examples of notorious markets in several categories — such as the Russian pay-per-download site Allofmp3, BitTorrent indexing sites like ThePirateBay and sites offering pirated sports telecasts like the China-based TV Ants.

The report also lists physical markets that deal heavily in counterfeit goods. Examples include Bahia Market in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and malls in China that sell personal computers with illegal, unlicensed software pre-loaded.

The list comes as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has stepped up its efforts to shut down websites that offer pirated goods or illegal video content.

In addition, the Senate is expected to take up Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's (D-Vt.) online piracy legislation in the coming months.

"The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been of tremendous help, seizing over 100 U.S.-based rogue websites in the past 10 months alone," said Steve Tepp, senior director for Internet piracy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center.

"However, today’s Notorious Market list demonstrates that many rogue websites are outside the United States. That is why Congress needs to enact legislation that will authorize the courts to protect our consumers and jobs by cutting off foreign rogue websites from the U.S. market.”

Leahy's bill has drawn bipartisan support, but also criticism from advocates who fear it could give the Justice Department the authority to shut down websites without adequate judicial review. The chairman has shown a willingness to reach a compromise that would satisfy some of those concerns.

But advocates of the bill say the government needs more expedited powers to combat pirates, who are nimble in avoiding attempts to shut down illegal video sites. Gary Gertzog, NFL senior vice president of legal and business affairs, recently compared the problem to a game of "Whac-a-mole."

The issue of unauthorized Internet webcasts is of particular concern to sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts, which rely on pay-per-view customers as a major source of revenue. UFC general counsel Lawrence Epstein told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that piracy keeps him up at night.

"If we have an Achilles' heel, this is it," he said.