The DOJ also saw 208 defendants sentenced for IP-related charges in fiscal year 2011, with 102 defendants receiving no prison term. Sixty defendants received prison terms of two years or less, while 29 received prison terms of 37 months or longer.

Digital rights group Public Knowledge praised parts of the report, including its emphasis on increasing transparency in the administration's IP enforcement efforts. But the report relies on copyright infringement numbers from copyright holders, when some of those numbers may not be reliable, the group said.

The report also shows that "the content industries have a vast array of tools already at their disposal to enforce their rights" beyond new legislation, said John Bergmayer, a senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge, in an email.

The IDG News Service