The losses are far bigger than any previous annual estimates and showed that Internet piracy, which accounted for 2.3 billion dollars of the losses, is now nearly matching the losses for street sales of bootlegged copies at 2.4 billion, according to a movie trade group study cited by the Daily News.

The remaining 1.4 billion dollars was lost to the illegal copying of films, said the study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA).

MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glick man said that the study, prepared by a consulting company over 18 months in 22 markets, will help to better analyze and focus the industry's efforts in fighting movie theft.

The study showed the bulk of the losses were from international piracy, which accounted for 4.8 billion dollars and about half of that total was from European countries.

While the remaining 1.3 billion dollars in losses occurred in the United States, which is higher than any individual country.

Of the countries included in the study, piracy in foreign countries is especially prevalent in Russia, Mexico, China and Spain in terms of Motion Picture Association member company losses,according to the Daily News report. Enditem