Bulgaria was one of the countries "deserving a special mention" in this year's report of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) because of "continuing concerns regarding high levels of piracy, lack of leadership and coordination by certain Bulgarian government officials and the need to improve enforcement of existing laws."

According to IIPA, during 2007, "Internet piracy in Bulgaria reached alarming proportions, no longer a distant second to the longstanding problem of physical (hard goods) piracy."

"End user piracy, particularly in the small and medium enterprises, is still the major threat for the software industry in Bulgaria. In addition to Internet and mobile piracy, the massive burning of copyrighted materials on CD- and DVDRs remains a key element of a landscape still dominated by piracy," the report said.

According to IIPA, the main reasons for continued high levels of piracy "are the prosecutors and the courts, who in practise consistently fail to treat copyright infringements as serious crimes. Unjustified delays permeate the process, and the whole system lacks transparency."

Other countries deserving special mention according to the IIPA were Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland.

According to the IIPA, copyright piracy was "a scourge which continues to cause an estimated $30 - $35 billion (20.6 - 24 billion euro) in annual losses to the U.S. copyright industries." These figures "exclude losses due to internet piracy," IIPA said.