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9 February 2017Trademarks

UK needs to tackle scale of IP crime, says trade body

The director general of UK trade body the  Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) has said in its annual report that authorities need to tackle the scale and impact of intellectual property crime.

The ACG published its 2016 annual report yesterday, February 8, and called on the UK government, local authorities and enforcement bodies to focus on preventing the sale of counterfeit goods.

Alison Statham, director general of the ACG, said in a release: “In this time of change and uncertainty we have a real opportunity to focus more effort and budget on getting the fundamentals right, from raising awareness to protecting consumers from fake and dangerous goods, to developing a national, multi-partner IP enforcement body.

“Despite the government’s clear vision in protecting creativity and supporting innovation, international trade in counterfeit and pirated goods is growing year-on-year, estimated to be worth £250 billion ($314 billion).”

She added: “The government has to strengthen its approach to IP enforcement and develop a national, multi-partner IP enforcement body to centralise expertise and intelligence, focusing equally on physical and online environments.”

In the opening letter of the report, Statham said that the organisation has joined forces with HM Revenue & Customs and Border Force officials.

“Together we’ve detained more than 80,000 counterfeit items, with a street value of £3.5 million.”

Statham added that the ACG has helped contribute to numerous operations which resulted in the seizure of nearly 200,000 fake goods with a street value of £5 million.

The report outlined the achievements made by the ACG last year. These included the organisation playing a role in reviewing the IP enforcement directive in order to increase penalties and criminalise commercial IP infringement within the EU.

Other highlights included participating in raids, increased use of intelligence and tackling counterfeits in UK “hotspots”.

The ACG said that Operation Strangeways “has been the most effective enforcement action against Manchester traders to date”.

Operation Strangeways tackles counterfeit areas in and around the Strangeways area in Manchester.

The report stated that eviction notices were served at a number of wholesale premises, which led to premises being vacated.

The ACG’s report can be viewed in full here (pdf)

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5 July 2016   The Anti-Counterfeiting Group has called on the UK government to set up a national IP enforcement body in order to tackle the threat posed by counterfeits.