"The worldwide growth of the US game software industry is especially remarkable when you consider that it has largely occurred in only four markets: North America, Western Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and Japan. But there are at least 100 other countries around the globe where there is virtually no legitimate market for our products due to rampant piracy," said IDSA president Doug Lowenstein. "It is no exaggeration to say that the growth of the US video game business is limitless if we can reduce piracy in these untapped markets to incidental levels."
The IDSA will report that estimates of losses to piracy in fourteen of the most problematic countries reveal over $1.9 billion lost to the industry due to the prevalence of pirate product in those markets. For example, losses in Korea and China - where there is a growing popularity of PC and console games and a rapidly expanding hardware base - combine to total about half of the $1.9 billion.
US Trade Representatives have the authority to impose trade sanctions following an investigation and consultation period. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick recently announced the imposition of prohibitive duties on approximately $75 million worth of metals, footwear, and other imports from Ukraine resulting from its failure to curtail optical media piracy. The increased duties went into effect on 23rd January, 2002.