Seizures reported last week include a number of large raids in Taiwan yielding fake movies, clothing and 20,000 units of counterfeit Calvin Klein underwear… In Hong Kong 10,000 video game copying devices and computer chips have been seized… Large seizures of pirated movies took place in the UK, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the US… One of the largest sources of illegal music on the internet (www.Oink.cd) has been closed down in a joint operation by British and Dutch police.

Cases and Outcomes reported last week include a doctor in the US who is to be tried again on federal charges that she bought a cheaper substitute for Botox and injected unsuspecting patients… A Belgian man has been fined more than €400,000 for illegally copying films, games, software and music from the internet, the largest fine ever for piracy in the country… A British man is on trial for distributing illegal video game chips, if convicted he could be the first ever person to be sent to jail for the offence in the UK… Also in the UK a man has been arrested for running a website, TV links, which provided links to copyrighted film and TV content on the internet.

Policy developments last week include a new anti-piracy pact set-up between the EU, US, Japan and South Korea called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is intending to do more to stamp out counterfeit goods… The UK government is considering new legislation which would crack down on illegal file-sharers.