Continuing itsefforts to stamp out intellectual property violation, the Motion PictureAssociation of America's (MPAA) chief anti-piracy officer held talks with theprime minister of Thailand last week.

Ken Jacobsen,the MPAA's senior vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracyoperations, told Thaksin Shinawatra that while the number of pirate copiesavailable on the street was down the country still needed a vibrant legitimatevideo marketplace.

Jacobsen said aneffective optical disc law was required to regulate factory production inThailand and added that copyright law should be strengthened to ensurecopyright violations became a state offence.

"We applaud theprime minister for his sterling leadership and commitment to eradicate piracyand are encouraged by the progress made to-date," Jacobsen said in a statement.