US urges Brazil to fight movie, music piracy
by Our reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO-The United States is seeking closer cooperation with Brazil to fight piracy of movies, music and other intellectual properties, US Attorney General Eric Holder told an audience in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday.

"We consider the theft of intellectual property to be a threat to our nation’s economic security, as I know you in Brazil do as well," he said.

He stressed that it was the priority of the US government "to combat the ever-growing threat to intellectual property worldwide," counting not only the theft of software and films but also criminal gangs profiting from the activity.

Holder said on Thursday he would attend a meeting in Brasilia of Latin American counterparts and justice ministers within the Organization of American Sates to further harmonize laws to combat computer and intellectual property crime.

Although Holder did not mention it in his speech, Brazil is home to a thriving black market for pirated DVDs and CDs of many US entertainment products and software.

The US government puts Brazil among 33 countries on an intellectual property rights watch list which merit "bilateral attention to address the underlying IPR problems."

Those nations rank lower than others on a separate priority watch list that includes China, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Algeria, India, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand and Venezuela.