As recommended by December's Gowers Review of Intellectual
Property, the DTI has granted Trading Standards Officers new powers
under Section 107A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
It will give £5 million to the officers to tackle copyright
infringement.
"From 6 April, there'll be an additional 4,500 pairs of Trading
Standards eyes watching counterfeiters and pirates," said Malcolm
Wicks, Trade and Industry Minister. "This will mean more surprise
raids at markets and boot sales, more intelligence, more
prosecutions and more criminals locked up."
Section 107A of the 1988 Act makes it the duty
of local weights and measures authorities to enforce prohibitions
against copyright infringement. It gives those officers the power
to make test purchases and to enter premises and sieze goods and
documents.
The Gowers Review, carried out by ex-Financial
Times editor Andrew Gowers for the Treasury last year, suggested
the extension of Trading Standards Officers' powers.
"Trading Standards have powers and the duty to
prevent the sale of trade mark protected goods. However, where the
infringement of rights relates to copyright alone Trading Standards
do not have the power to act, and cannot perform searches and
seizures," said the Gowers Review. "This means, for example, that
where there are sales of counterfeit CDs and DVDs, Trading
Standards have only a limited response. This creates an
inconsistency in the way that the law treats piracy and
counterfeiting."
Recommending changing the 1988 Act, Gowers
said that the extra cost of enforcement could be covered by making
full use of the Proceeds of Crime Act to pay for extra
enforcement.
"Crimelords currently earn fortunes peddling
fake goods, bootleg CDs and DVDs through car boot sales and other
outlets," said Ron Gainsford, chief executive of the Trading
Standards Institute. People should realise that the proceeds from
the sale of these goods are used to finance a whole range of
criminal activities."
Wicks said that the UK's creative industries
are said to lose £9 billion a year from copyright infringement, and
that the Treasury loses £300 million a year. "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," he said.
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