Bulgaria has been removed from the intellectual property piracy watchlist of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) mainly due to attempts of law enforcement agencies to stem intellectual property theft, IIPA wrote in its report titled Special 301 Recommendations.

Bulgaria was now moved to the "special mention" category alongside Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Hong Cong, Singapore, Jordan and New Zealand. Countries within this category are subject to close scrutiny and unless they make headway in curbing piracy they return to the watch list.

Despite the promotion, software piracy in Bulgaria added two percentage points from 2006 to 71 per cent. According to Velizar Sokolov of the Bulgarian Software Association, illegal software use is at 67 per cent.

Internet piracy is still proliferating and has come on terms with physical (hard goods) piracy, the report reads. Despite that police addressed the torrent issue and performed raids into the headquarters of sites such as www.zamunda.bg and www.arenabg.com, their owners are yet to be brought to court. Local ISPs also keep offering free access to otherwise be paid information and products.

The report sees the fight against copyright infringement dogged by the inefficient operation of prosecutors and the court.

The report recommends that Bulgaria take more action against internet piracy, increase enforcement actions against retail piracy, instigate enforcement of the Optical Disc Law, strengthen the judiciary and tighten border control to stem import and export of pirated goods.