Location of crimes

The sale of counterfeit goods from ‘home’ remains the most prevalent location reported through Crimestoppers in 2014/15; ‘social media’ and shops also remain among the most reported locations. The number of reports submitted in relation to online auctions has decreased, by 71% (89, n = 124), those for 2013/14 reflecting the continued change in online shopping behaviour.

Reports of counterfeit goods related to the location of ‘market’ have fallen significantly, by 94% (3, n = 58), compared to those for 2013/14. It is notable that ‘market’ is the only physical location to have seen such a significant reduction in reports, which suggests that the Real Deal Campaign has had a major effect in encouraging market operators to actively look out for and prohibit the sale of IP infinging goods.

POLICE IP CRIME UNIT
The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is a specialist national police unit dedicated to protect UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online digital content.

The operationally independent unit launched in September 2013 with funding from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and is based within the Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police, the national policing lead for fraud. In October 2014 it was announced that the unit would receive £3 million to further fund its work until 2017.

Since May 2014 the unit has protected consumers by suspending 3,426 rogue websites selling fake luxury goods. Those websites claimed to be selling well-known high-end goods, including Burberry, Longchamp, GHD, Prada, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gucci, UGG and Tiffany & Co. However, the items were in fact cheap and inferior counterfeits. The action taken by PIPCU was part of Operation Ashiko, an initiative in partnership with brands, brand protection organisations and Internet registries to disrupt websites selling counterfeit goods to unsuspecting customers. To date this operation has suspended nearly 6,000 websites.

The unit’s work in disrupting and diverting views from copyright infringing websites has also been highly successful. From July 2014 to June 2015 PIPCU diverted over 11 million views from pirate TV/film/music websites to an official police warning page. This is an official message from the City of London Police warning the user that the website they are trying to access is currently under investigation by PIPCU. The page also includes signposts to safe and reliable websites that provide legitimate access to music, films and books, as well as a link to the PIPCU website so users can find out more information about the unit.

Operation Creative, an initiative designed to disrupt and prevent websites from providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content, has now been in operation for over a year. One of the key objectives of this project, which is led by the unit in partnership with the creative and advertising industries, is to disrupt revenue on pirate sites primarily gained via advertising. Since the operation launched it has seen a significant decrease in advertising on infringing websites on the part of the UK’s biggest spending companies (-72.7%). The operation has also seen a 75% decrease in advertisement placements by those brands signed up to the Infringing Website List (IWL).
Between May 2014 and June 2015 PIPCU arrested 37 people, bringing the total number of arrests to 52. It has also seized more than £3 million worth of fake goods since September 2013.

One of the unit’s most notable operations in the past year was a joint investigation with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). During the course of the investigation, a 26-year-old man was arrested at his place of work in Yorkshire on suspicion of leaking films on the Internet, which are either only available at the cinema or unfinished and yet to be released, including The Expendables 3. His actions are estimated to be costing the film industry millions of pounds. The team’s work drew praise from Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, who starred in and co-wrote The Expendables 3. He said, ‘I’d like to thank the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit at the City of London Police for working with US Homeland Security Investigations to apprehend the suspect in this case. It is important to protect the rights of creatives around the world from theft.’