Last week the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) international summit on IP enforcement was held in London and attracted a raft of high profile speakers, from the creative industries, governments and enforcement agencies from across Europe.
The City of London Police’s specialist Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) was also represented, with speakers talking about enforcing rights and protecting consumers.
The force pointed to PIPCU’s investigations and seizures since its inception, including the suspension of over 2,500 websites selling counterfeit goods and the arrest of those involved in distributing counterfeit CDs. PIPCU is currently investigating more than £30m of IP crime in the UK.
The summit also looked at international IP enforcement challenges and the measures needed to tackle amongst other things, counterfeiting and piracy. It also discussed protecting the rights of creators, rights holders and consumers in an age of global, digital trade.
Describing the summit as a great opportunity to share best practice with government, IP offices and law enforcement around the world, a spokesman for PIPCU pointed out that IP crime is a global problem that is costing hundreds of millions of pounds per economy and affecting hard-working people’s livelihoods.
Closing the summit, UK IP minister Lord Younger agreed, saying that the meeting had created a springboard for change and a platform that sent out a clear message to infringers.
However, he also spoke of the need to reach out to consumers and inform them of their rights and what they are not allowed to do, which most people seem not to know. For example, recent research found that the majority of people thought it was legal to download content from unofficial sites if it was only for their own use, which is not the case.