Trading standards gets GBP 5 million grant to combat piracy

via gamesindustry

The department of trade and industry is to award trading standards officers more authority and a GBP 5 million Government grant in a bid to boost the campaign against videogame piracy.

As announced by DTI minister Malcom Wicks at the Intellectual Property Crime Group in London, trading standards and other UK agencies will be given new powers under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

From April 6, officers will be able to make test purchases, enter premises and inspect and seize goods and documents. Customs, benefit fraud teams, police, trading standards and industry investigators will co-ordinate their activities on an ongoing basis.

According to Wicks, "There will be an additional 4,500 pairs of Trading Standards eyes watching counterfeiters and pirates. This will mean more surprise raids at markets and car boot sales, more intelligence, more prosecutions and more criminals locked up.

"IP criminals should know that the UK is not a safe place. The risk of 10 years' imprisonment and unlimited fines is very real and, from this date forward, a markedly higher risk."

Wicks quoted figures which say that piracy costs the UK film, music and game industries up to GBP 9 billion per year, adding, "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."

The new initiative has been welcomed by ELSPA director general Paul Jackson, who said, "The fight against IP theft remains a massive problem for not only the games business but film, music and branded goods.

"The DTI’s commitment to give new powers to TSOs around the country, plus a further £5 million in funding is a clear sign that the DTI understands that Trading Standards needs more help in the battle."

WOW! They're really going to war on anti-piracy in the U.K. In the US they're more worried about music and movie piracy, it just goes to show.

oh shit! help me

Lock your doors, pull your curtains, and barricade your windows. They could be coming for you!

Aiyiyi, this is definately no good at all!

seriously..... i have NO idea how the hell they can put a figure on how much money is lost.

They cannot record where every single bit of data goes on the internet. So how the hell can they say "oh the economy is loosing blah blah due to piracy" For all they know it may be a lower demand for those products generally.

doesn't the british government have anything better to crack down on? and also how high is the penality for murder? I hope its higher than 10 years..

Knock down and kill someone whilst drunk=a smack on the wrist and told not to do it again whereas menial things like this are clamped down on in a draconian fashion :confused:

Perhaps they think all pirates fund terrorists or drug dealers (people who buy original dvds and albums are funding drug dealers anyway, look at how many film and pop stars are junkies)....

Prison`s no big deal anyway, bed and board for free whilst costing the taxpayer over £1000/week and I suppose you could always sue if you don`t like the food.

WAKE UP PEOPLE! Big Brother`s not coming he`s already here and it`s high time we got rid of him :thumbup:

they should be more worried about people who just snatch games and movies right off the shelves... that means money put into production of the disc/case is lost too... i live in the US tho... so ive been worried bout this for years... it really odd how they seem to do a better job catching movie/music/game pirates than internet predators and real threats to society.... cause internet predators dont take the companys money.... just goes to show how selfish big coorperations are.

Waste of money, people will always pirate games/music/movies and not get caught. It's like the war on drugs, it's not going to stop anybody.