UK sets up dedicated IP crime unit

A new police unit aimed at targeting intellectual property crime has been announced in the UK with £2.5m in funding from the Intellectual Property Office.

The new unit will be operated by the City of London Police and is due to start operations in September, focusing on online piracy, counterfeit goods and other forms of IP crime.

The initiative was announced by Intellectual Property Minister, Lord Younger and City of London Police Commissioner Adrian Leppard last Friday, who said it will be one of the first units of its kind in the world and will "ensure that the UK stays at the forefront of intellectual property enforcement."
 
Lord Younger said at the launch that IP crime is a serious and increasing threat to the UK's creative industries, which contribute "more than £36bn [$55m] a year and employ more than 1.5m people."

"We are creating an operationally independent police unit that will co-ordinate the national and international response from law enforcement and public and private sector partners so we can effectively target those who continue to illegally profiteer on the back of others’ endeavours," he added.

Around seven million people a month visit sites offering illegal content in the UK, according to the IPO. Globally, it is projected that digitally pirated music, films and software will account for losses of around $80bn – this is expected to rise to $240bn by 2015.

According to The Creative Coalition’s TERA Report (2010), if nothing is done about copyright infringement, up to a quarter of a million jobs in the UK could be at risk by 2015.

Many UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have started blocking access to torrent websites such as ThePirateBay.org and mirror (proxy) sites in a bid to limit illegal downloading of content.

The objective of the new unit is to go after the operators of illegal sites rather than members of the public, according to the IPO, for example by disrupting the business they do with advertisers and online payment systems.


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