Calls made for expansion of PIPCU piracy clampdown

Initiatives set up by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) that aim to tackle piracy should be increased and used in other countries, the unit has said.

In a blog post published yesterday, March 29, on the UK Intellectual Property Office's website, PIPCU referred to the dangers of online IP crime and how it is being tackled in the UK.

The blog said that PIPCU, which is part of the the City of London’s Police, has dealt with IP crime through its Operation Creative and the Infringing Website List (IWL) programmes.

Operation Creative, run in partnership with the Advertising Bureau UK, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, and the Federation Against Copyright Theft, aims to prevent websites from providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content.

The IWL is an online portal with an up-to-date list of infringing websites and is available to advertisers. According to PIPCU, it is now seen as a template for other countries to adopt in the future.

There is also a “scope and real need” for the IWL to grow “even further” by increasing the number of websites monitored, PIPCU said.