Bulgaria ranks among the countries that fail protecting intellectual property rights, an annual report of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) shows.

IIPA recommends that Bulgaria remains within the Watch List based on the estimated levels of copyright piracy in 2006.

Annual losses from copyright violations in Bulgaria total seven million dollars for the music sector and $24 million for the software sector.

The percentage of unlicensed music distributed is 75 per cent and for software the figure reached 69 per cent, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

IIPA's report analyses developments in 60 countries, where US businesses incur significant losses because of intellectual rights violations. The presence of a country within the list can lead to the imposition of economic sanctions by the US.

According to the report part of the trade with illegal products falls under the activities of organised criminal groups.

Bulgaria has more than 200 local area networks (LAN), which provide access to unlicensed content, the report said. More than 3000 internet cafes enable recording and distribution of unlicensed music, films and software.

IIPA gave some recommendations to Bulgaria, among which increasing sanctions against internet piracy and monitoring the work of internet providers and LAN networks.