U.S. Says Russia, Pakistan, China Among Worst For Copyright Protection

The U.S. government says Russia and China remain among the worst countries in the world for preventing the theft of copyrighted material and other intellectual property.

A new report from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative put Russia on its priority watch list for the 16th straight year and China for the eighth consecutive year.

Ukraine made the list for the first time since 2007, indicating that it has backslid on reforms.

Pakistan was also listed among the worst enforcers of property rights.

Countries placed on a lower-level watch list include Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The priority watch list carries no threat of sanctions, but is aimed at embarrassing governments into cracking down on piracy and counterfeiting and updating their copyright laws.

With reporting by Reuters