The UK government passed a 3rd reading of a bill to impose heavier penalties on people who counterfieit goods. Although the legislation is mainly aimed at mass marketeers of dodgy Guccis, the theft of intellectual property by copyright infringement and the duplication of copyright material is being targetted by the same Act.
What the MPs actually think:
Quote:
"Counterfeiting is enormously profitable, and organised criminals are heavily involved in the production, the buying and importing and the distribution of all types of counterfeited products . . . The profits from IP theft can help organised crime groups to become more established and to fund other various criminal activities."
"Over two thirds of the organised crime groups reported to be involved in intellectual property theft were seen also to be involved in drug trafficking. Drug and intellectual property theft are very different areas of crime, except that both involve smuggling and selling, and the levels of risk attached are also very different. The links are not fully understood, but there are large profits to be made from counterfeit goods, and this may be the simple explanation."
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Full transcript of the debate (if you can stay awake, as most MPs do not) is
here