Italy and Switzerland were added to an annual online piracy...

Italy and Switzerland were added to an annual online piracy watch list published by the Congressional International Anti-piracy Caucus Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnqn3v). The two countries join China, Russia and Ukraine on a list of nations whose policies and legal frameworks fail to protect the intellectual property rights of U.S. creators, the caucus said. “The lack of enforcement of intellectual property rights in these countries causes grave harm to American creators and to our economy as a whole,” said the report authored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah., and Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “I wish it could be said that the 2012 International Anti-Piracy Watch List contained some promising news,” said Hatch in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, this year’s watch list confirms that copyright piracy continues to spread at an alarming pace.” The report did note improvements from the governments in Spain and Canada to modernize their legal frameworks and address the piracy of U.S. digital music, videos, software, games and books.