Recently the UK Government published its UK IP Crime Report gathering all IP stakeholders together with one common aim – to speak with a united voice against counterfeiting, piracy and copying. Stakeholders, including UK enforcement agencies supported by the UK Intellectual Property Office, paint a realistic picture of the threats posed by IP theft but also the considerable successes of enforcement and in some cases custodial sentences.

There are two key drivers behind all IP Crime: greed and need. As the economic hit of COVID-19 becomes a reality, it is likely that unsecure employment and business uncertainty will have a significant impacting on levels of IP crime.

Read the full report here and ACID Case Studies on Page 19

The Minister for Intellectual Property, Rt Hon Amanda Solloway, MP said, “The fundamental principles of intellectual property regulation, that inventors and artists should be rewarded for their innovations along with the business that support them, has remained consistent since the Patent Office opened its doors in 1852. Today the output of our inventors, creators and artists inhabits two interlinked realms: the physical and the digital, and in this report the UK’s IP enforcement community can be seen deploying increasingly sophisticated strategies designed to protect legitimate trade in both”. 

Dids Macdonald, OBE., Chief Executive of Anti Copying in Design and Vice Chair of the Alliance for Intellectual Property said, “We welcome this report which, year on year, highlights the different aspects of IP crime.  Sadly, the continuing plight for designers is the anonymity of online theft of their designs and the difficulty of accessing take down and track down. Coupled with the continuing threats posed by retailers who think they can free ride on the back of original creators, it is a double-edged sword. However, designers are fighting back, and through their social media networks, the design community are starting to shout much more loudly to expose those who copy. After all, what have they got to lose?”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-ip-crime-and-enforcement-report-2019-to-2020