LONDON - On the occasion of the World Anti-Counterfeiting Day, celebrated at the end of June every year, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) higlighted the serious threat posed by Intellectual Property Crime (IPC).

The counterfeiting and piracy of trademarked and copyrighted products and services damages legitimate businesses and puts consumers at risk, a press release by the UK-IPO stated.

The global Intellectual Property (IP) crime market has been estimated as worth in excess of $ 200 billion per year.

Criminals are targeting a wide range of products including designer clothing, music and films, luxury and electrical goods, toys, alcohol and cigarettes. For example the cost to UK taxpayers of counterfeit cigarettes alone was £2.9billion in 2006.

Since the creation of the UK IP Crime Strategy in 2004, there has been a rise in the number of successful prosecutions from 600 to over 1000 prosecutions a year.

"The UK-IPO is committed to ensuring the value of creativity and innovation is maximised to the benefit of the UK. IP Crime is a serious threat to the well being of the UK’s economy,” UK-IPO Chief Executive Ian Fletcher.

“A multi-facetted and collaborated approach between industry, enforcement agencies and Government is vital to combat this threat. Many initiatives both new and on-going have assisted and will continue to assist in the prevention of IP Crime within the UK," Fletcher concluded.

Source: ag-IP news