IP police team plead for campaign support

A UK police team dedicated to fighting IP crime has urged advertisers and rights holders to join forces following the launch of a website designed to halt advertising on piracy websites.

The Infringing Website List, which has launched today, Monday, following a three-month pilot, is an online portal providing the digital advertising sector with a list of copyright infringing websites.

All the websites have been identified by the creative industries and verified by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) a team within the City of London Police.

The pilot period took place last year and was set-up as part of PIPCU’s Operation Creative programme.

According to PIPCU, there was a 12 percent reduction in advertising from household brands on the illegal websites during that time.

Organisations including the BPI, which represents the UK’s recorded music industry, the Federation Against Copyright Theft and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising are all partners in the IWL programme.

Detective chief inspector Andy Fyfe, head of PIPCU, said adverts from an established brand appearing on an infringing website gives the site “a look of legitimacy”, but results in the brand and advertiser inadvertently funding online crime.

PIPCU has been set up to protect UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content.

The unit was launched in September 2013 and is initially being funded by the UK Intellectual Property Office.

A report last month, by the Digital Citizens Alliance, estimated that piracy websites generated $227million from advertising in 2013.