U.S. ambassador raps Italy for piracy

Rome -- The U.S. ambassador to Italy rapped Italian officials Wednesday over the quantity of counterfeit goods produced in the country.

During a bilateral conference on intellectual property, Ambassador Ronald Spogli said U.S. interests "suffer huge damages in Italy. It is simply unacceptable," reported ANSA, the Italian news agency.

Spogli said Italy was still on a U.S. list of trading partners under observation in Washington because concern about the level of protection for intellectual property. He said Italy's inclusion on the list was "frankly not very encouraging."

Confcommercio, Italy's retailer association, reports that Italy is Europe's largest producer of fake or illegally copied goods. About half the items are clothing, handbags, DVDs and computer software.

Responding to Spogli's comments, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Italy was working to "step up efforts" to fight piracy so it could be removed from the list.

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