Seizures of counterfeit and pirated items reported last week include a large number of books in India…Fake clothing and luxury goods worth €25 million have also been seized in Spain…Pirated optical discs have been seized in Bulgaria, Hong Kong, UK, and the US...Counterfeit cigarettes have been discovered in Malta and the UK.

Cases last week include 29 people being charged in the US in connection with a counterfeiting ring, smuggling goods worth $700 million into the country... The European Commission is taking France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden to the European Court of Justice over failure to implement a European directive on intellectual property rights in the internal market…A third Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) official has been charged in connection with the tainted pharmaceutical scandal…The Taoyuan District Court in Taiwan has ordered an online dealer of pirated software to pay damages equivalent to $22.52 million to 10 software companies.

Policy developments reported last week include the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) advocating setting up of the Economic Offence Courts (EOC’s) in over 550 districts across the country to punish sellers of counterfeit products… A landmark agreement has been signed between the Arab League and Hemaya Universal paving the way for the first Arab Consumer and Brand Protection Forum.

Studies and reports out last week include one by the Permanent Forum on International Pharmaceutical Crime listing Israel as tenth on the list of countries suffering from drug counterfeiting.