In a report just
published, the group said that it had confiscated 20% more DVD-R
burners than in previous years, and that disc production was
becoming domesticated in a way never previously seen.
"During 2005 there was a 20% increase of DVD-R burners seized,
confirming the shift to UK produced items from imported pressed
master discs," said the National Intellectual Property Enforcement
Report.
"What was happening was that up to 18 months ago pressed discs
from semi-legitimate factories were coming in from places like
Malaysia," said Eddy Leviten, head of communications at the
Federation Against Copyright Theft, the film and broadcast
anti-piracy group. It was FACT's submission to the document which
reported the rise in burner seizures.
"There was a very good campaign by the Motion Picture
Association and HM Revenue and Customs and some foreign governments
to clamp down on those factories which meant that criminals had to
start to burn their own," said Leviten.
The number of seizures involving any burner in 2005 was 204, but
Leviten said that the seemingly low figure does not take account of
the volumes involved. "We have done seizures where there are 50
burners, which means 500 burning trays. Already this year we have
had two raids with 500 trays each and one with 200 each," he
said.
In its report of 1005 activity, the IP Crime Group claimed to
have received 500,000 intelligence reports in a nine month period
relating to intellectual property crime. The Patent Office has
established a national IP crime database, called TELLPAT, which it
says is recognised by the police, intelligence officers and trading
standards officials.
Chairman of the Patent Office, Lord Sainsbury, said that the
activities funded organised crime. "We suspect that all
international crime organisations are now involved in
counterfeiting," he said.
The report identified the internet as a major avenue of trade
for fake goods, pinpointing auction sites as particularly useful
for counterfeiters. It also said that counterfeit medicines are a
growing market, with the incidence of their seizure rising by 45%
in 2005.
