The Recording Industry 2005 Commercial Piracy Report, prepared by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), paints a stark picture when it comes to global pirating of music compact discs.

According to the report, illegal traffic in pirated music was worth $4.6 billion last year, 34% of all CDs are illegal, and fake recordings outsell legitimate recordings in 31 countries around the world.

The report takes the position, not surprisingly, that this "mass-scale copyright theft" is damaging the livelihoods and wellbeing of musical artists and hundreds of thousands of persons employed legitimately in the music industry. The report states that the music industry is a "risky business" and that the industry must protect its intellectual property, otherwise "the music industry quite simply would not exist."

In addition the harm to the music industry itself resulting from pirated CDs, the report points out that governments and citizens are hurt too, as "lost industry revenues mean lost tax revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

The report details a list of the top ten priority countries that have markets that have "unacceptable piracy rates that urgently require addressing." These countries are: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.

Thus, while there has been quite a public debate about online downloading and file-sharing of music, culminating in the recent Grokster decision by the United States Supreme Court, the report makes plain that the pirating of tangible, physical CDs also is an issue to be addressed.

Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris (www.duanemorris.com), where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology disputes. His column appears Wednesdays at USATODAY.com. His Web site is www.sinrodlaw.com, and he can be reached at . To receive a weekly e-mail link to Mr. Sinrod's columns, please send an e-mail with the word Subscribe in the Subject line to .

Reprinted here with permission from USAToday.com.