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Patent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.

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Friday, August 13, 2004

UK Paper on Intellectual Property Crime.

On the website of the

UKPTO there is a new

report on Intellectual Property Crime:

"Counterfeiting and piracy have emerged as clear and serious threats to business, consumers and government. No product is too cheap to counterfeit and no brand immune; luxury goods, foodstuffs, automotive parts, sophisticated pharmaceuticals and electronics are all threatened. As a result the UK loses both money and economic knowledge.

It is now generally recognised that IP crime has a serious economic effect in the UK. Counterfeiting and piracy of branded products is estimated by some industry sources to cost the UK economy at least Ł9 billion a year.

The Patent Office is looking at how we can widen our role in helping fight intellectual property crime, that is, crime involving trade marks and copyright.

Our IP Crime Group has established aims and on 10 August 2004 published the first National IP Crime Strategy (pdf file 929Kb) to co-ordinate the efforts of many enforcers and rights owners to best effect."

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