aforementioned rogue collecting society that has ties to government officials. That amendment has been withdrawn, but no alternative has been proposed.
The current system of collecting societies in Ukraine institutionalizes misappropriation of royalties. Ukraine must implement a fair and transparent system for authorizing collecting societies as soon as possible and must provide rights holders with a fair and transparent mechanism for enforcing their rights.
Widespread and admitted use of infringing software by the Ukrainian Government.
The United States has repeatedly conveyed its concern about software piracy in Ukraine. The Government of Ukraine acknowledges that a significant percentage of the software used by the government itself is unlicensed. The most recent industry data identify Ukraine as having a higher software piracy rate than almost all other countries on the Priority Watch List. Ukraine has acknowledged the need for the government to use legal software, and has issued repeated official documents calling for such legalization as far back as 2002, and most recently, in April 2013.
However, these statements have not produced results. In the past, the Government of Ukraine has stated that it will allocate funds that are "necessary to transition government ministries to licensed software, to include training for inspectors, as well as ongoing technical assistance to each Ministry in setting up an internal monitoring and compliance system," but has failed to do so. While the Government of Ukraine budgeted 100 million UAH ($12.3 million) for 2013 software legalization in state institutions (which the Government of Ukraine admits does not reflect the value of the illegal software being used), the government has not spent this money or taken other steps toward legalization, and disbursement of the funds is uncertain. Ukraine must adopt a transparent and effective system to transition to the use of legal software by the government and ensure that legal software is used on an ongoing basis.
Persistent failure to implement any effective and transparent system to combat online piracy.
The United States has repeatedly raised its strong concerns about the significant and growing piracy of copyrighted content. Optical disc piracy was one of the principal reasons underlying the U.S. decision to add Ukraine to the Watch List in 1998, the Priority Watch List in 1999 and 2000 and to designate Ukraine a PFC from 2001 through 2005. Online piracy now has significant and growing consequences for both the Ukrainian market and for international trade. For example, ExtraTorrent.com, which is based in Ukraine, professes to be "The World's Largest BitTorrent System." This site is the 76th most visited site in India, and among the top 200 sites in six other countries (including the United Kingdom and Australia), illustrating how Ukraine has become perceived as a safe haven for online piracy enterprises serving other markets.
There was not a single online piracy-related conviction in Ukraine in 2012. In late January 2012, the Government of Ukraine seized servers as part of a criminal investigation into EX.UA, which is both the country's twelfth most visited website and a prolific source of infringing international music, software, and video. (It also appears on USTR's Notorious Markets list.) Following intense negative public reaction, and public statements in support of the website by influential figures, the site reopened shortly thereafter and continues to monetize infringing content today.
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