The raid was carried out at a weekend computer fair in Bradford
and involved the seizure of counterfeit software and machinery to
'chip' games consoles. Chipping a console makes it possible to play
pirated games on it by circumventing the digital rights management
systems of the machine.
Two men were arrested at the fair at the Richard Dunn Sports
Centre in Bradford for selling copied computer software and games.
Police and trading standards officers then carried out a search of
a home in Leeds and uncovered 5,000 discs containing pirated
software, music and films.
Though the value of the pirated items was estimated by trading
standards officials to be £100,000, the value of that number of
geniune products would have been £1 million, said the West
Yorkshire Trading Standards Service (WYTSS).
"The Service would like to send out a warning to individuals
involved in software piracy that they will be dealt with severely,"
said Graham Hebblethwaite, chief officer of the WYTSS. "The maximum
penalty for crimes under copyright and trademark legislation
carries a sentence of ten years imprisonment.”
“The illegal software trade is worth hundreds of millions of
pounds in the domestic market alone," he said. "Trading Standards
have had the power to enforce the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act since April 2007 and the Service is committed to enforcing this
Act to eradicate the sale of counterfeit software, music and
computer games in the county."
Last year a section of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act
was put into force, changing the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
to give new powers to trading standards officers.
They were given the power to seize goods and documents and make
test purchases. They also have a general duty to enforce copyright
law.
The move was one of the recommendations of the Gowers Review of
Intellectual Property carried out on behalf of the Treasury by
Andrew Gowers in 2006. The then-Department of Trade and Industry
backed the move with what it said was £5 million of new investment
in the trading standards system.
