In addition, the Uruguayan courts are imposing substantial delays in copyright enforcement actions. The courts delay granting judicial inspections of suspected copyright infringers' premises for three or more months. Such delays usually result in ineffective actions because the evidence of piracy may be moved or disappeared altogether between the date of the petition requesting the inspections and the actual date of the raids. As in the case of other Mercosur countries, Uruguay is beginning to be affected by the influx of pirate optical media product from Asia. U.S. video screeners are used as masters for reproduction of illegal tapes.
Some video clubs create very good quality counterfeit artwork and labels, which fool consumers.
Cable piracy is on the rise in Uruguay, and presents a serious problem especially in the country's interior. Some companies which serve the areas of Canelones, San Jos and Pasand , all densely populated areas, offer a dedicated film channel which uses as its source material pirate videos into which advertisements are spliced. In other cases, these film channels show videos rented from video clubs. Another problem, a more seasonal one, continues to be the unauthorized public performance of videos, primarily over closed circuit cable systems in the tourist hotels in Punta del Este. During 1998, MPA initiated 89 investigations and 240 inspections in Uruguay.