New legislation gets tough on copyright pirates and counterfeiters
10 Apr 2007 03:57 PM
New powers to help Trading Standards officers tackle the UK’s fight
against counterfeiting and piracy crime came into force last week.
Backed by £5 million of government funding the new powers under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, will make enforcement of copyright
infringement the responsibility of Trading Standards and give officers the
power to make test purchases, enter premises and inspect and seize goods and
documents.
Malcolm Wicks, MP, the Minister for Science and Innovation, said:
"The UK film, music and game
industries are among the most creative and innovative in the world, but
peddlers of counterfeits are costing those industries up to £9 billion a
year. The taxpayer is also losing out to the tune of £300 million. It's a
serious offence, whether committed by small-scale hawkers or international
crime organisations.
IP criminals should know that the UK is not a safe place.
Their risk of 10 years' imprisonment and unlimited fines is very real and from
this date forward a markedly higher risk."
It is suspected that
all international crime organisations are now involved in counterfeiting and
use this as a way to launder money and fund a wide range of criminal
activities.
The IP Crime Group's Strategy, spearheaded by the newly
renamed UK Intellectual Property Office is enabling co-ordinated action from
customs, benefit fraud teams, police, trading standards and industry
investigators to tackle these criminal activities.
Donna Sidwell,
LACORS said:
"I am very pleased that the Government has formally
welcomed the recommendations of the Gowers Review. The Government state that
they firmly believe in the need for strong enforcement of Intellectual Property
(IP) rights to support the UK's creative industries. LACORS is pleased that
additional funding for these additional duties has been agreed, which will help
local authority trading standards services tackle these criminals."
Editors' notes:
- Andrew Gowers’ Review of
Intellectual Property, published in December, underlined the importance of
effective enforcement. He said: "The ideal IP system creates incentives
for innovation, without unduly limiting access for consumers and follow-on
innovators. And it must take tough action against those who infringe IP rights
at a cost to the UK’s most creative industries". The Review,
including the final report, the commissioned research and responses to the Call
for Evidence, is available from the HM Treasury
website .
- The UK Intellectual Property Office has
published a
timetable for the implementation of the Gowers Review recommendations.
- The IP Crime Group, established by the UK Intellectual Property
Office working in collaboration with its many partners, has in the last two
years produced the national IP Crime Strategy, the Annual Enforcement Report,
developed TellPat; the national database for recording counterfeiting and
piracy activities which is now recognised by the Police, intelligence officers
and Trading Standards as the key database on IP Crime. The Annual
Enforcement Report is available on this website.
- LACORS (The
Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services) is the local government
central body responsible for overseeing local authority regulatory and related
services. Regulatory services is the name given to a group of services which
exist to ensure public protection. LACORS coordinates regulatory services
delivered by local government. These range from protecting consumers against
illegal doorstop selling to checking hygiene standards in restaurants and food
factories.