Seizures reported last week include almost 16 million cigarettes and half a tonne of tobacco by customs officers in the UK… A total of 3.7 million pirate discs were seized by the Russian Ministry of the Interior during raids of almost 30,000 premises… In the US over 100,000 pirated CD’s were seized in the largest ever counterfeit sting to date…  Up to 30 kiosks selling pirated CD’s and DVD’s have been raided in Puerto Rico.

Cases and Outcomes reported last week include Russian police deciding to prosecute a pharmaceutical company, alleging that it is a major supplier of counterfeit medicines…A British woman has been jailed for two and a half years for supplying tens of thousands of counterfeit Viagra pills… Music star, Prince, is planning to file lawsuits in France, Sweden and the US against the Pirate Bay bit torrent website.

Policy developments last week include the introduction of the “ Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement Act of 2007”in the US which should increase resources to fight IP theft and strengthen enforcement against it… Also in the US, a bill has been introduced which would authorize the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against people engaged in peer-to-peer copyright infringement… Two major film studios have joined forces to fight movie piracy in China by bringing low-cost DVDs to market quickly, selling them for just 22 Yuan ($3).

Studies and reports out last week include one which found that 491 people were killed in the poisoned medication scandal which hit Panama late last year.