Out-Law News 1 min. read

29 arrests in UK piracy crackdown


The police arrested 29 suspects yesterday in a series of dawn raids targeting UK counterfeiters and benefit fraudsters. Seventeen addresses in the Liverpool, Sefton and Skelmersdale areas were searched.

Advert: Free OUT-LAW breakfast seminars, UK-wide: open source software; and data retentionThe British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) and computer software body ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) assisted in the six-month investigation, which was conducted by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The operation uncovered five major duplicating factories; from which counterfeit CDs, DVDs and computer games were distributed and sold.

According to the BPI, around 70% of the gang's fakes were sold at Liverpool's two worst piracy hotspots, Stanley Dock and Walton Market, with another 30% sold on to smaller units in the Liverpool area. The DWP estimates that an average counterfeit stall in Liverpool was turning over £4,000 a day.

Those arrested are the first to face multiple criminal fraud charges collectively brought by the BPI, FACT and DWP. The charges mark a growing trend of cooperation between the Government and the creative industries in fighting benefit fraud and intellectual property theft.

If convicted, the suspects face having the proceeds of their crimes confiscated.

"The criminal gangs that control the production, manufacturing, distribution and sale of counterfeit goods may have become increasingly organised and large in number, but so have we,” said BPI Director of Anti-Piracy David Martin.

“By taking a multi-agency approach to tackle this growing problem, we can not only pool our intelligence and resources, but seek far stiffer penalties for those who profit at the expense of the creative industries and the taxpayer alike," he added.

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