Once again the U.S. and some of its ''"major trading partners''" have embarked on a mission to improve global anti-piracy efforts and step up enforcement. Unfortunately ''"major trading partners''" does not include the two countries most famous for producing massive amounts of scratchy, hard to hear, overdubbed copies: China and Russia.

This small oversight does not stop the U.S. government from rolling out the PR machine as U.S. trade representative Susan C. Schwab announced the new initiative in a press conference on Tuesday. Nor does is stop the Motion Picture Assn. of America chief exec Dan Glickman from believing it, "This agreement has real potential to improve the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in major markets around the world." In the inimitable words of Journey, don'''t stop believing!

Meanwhile, the 7th Avenue subway stop is still doing a brisk business in scratchy, hard to hear, overdubbed copies of KRS-One and Justin Timberlake CDs. [Variety]