Seizures reported last week include 28,000 pirated books in India… There have been a number of large raids in the US yielding a range of counterfeit goods including clothing, luxury goods, pirated movies and watches… Pirated movies have been seized elsewhere including Canada, India and the UK… Finally, a large consignment of counterfeit preserved vegetables has been seized in Hong Kong.

Cases and Outcomes reported last week include a British shopkeeper being ordered to pay back £100,000 after selling dangerous counterfeit goods from his store… Chanel is suing online retailer 'stylesoflife.com' for alleged trademark counterfeiting… The largest BitTorrent site in Iceland 'Torrent.is' has been taken offline after receiving an injunction… IBM is suing a company 'Shentech.com' for selling counterfeit IBM laptop batteries that could catch fire… In the UK the Assets Recovery Agency has obtained a civil recovery order for £60,000 against two students who sold counterfeit designer jewellery via eBay.

Policy developments last week include Chinese plans to increase the penalties to include the death penalty for those who sell or make counterfeiting pharmaceuticals which have caused “extremely severe harm” to patients.

Studies and reports out last week include one by the EU liquor association which states that a quarter of all brands claiming to be of European origin sold in China are counterfeit… US Customs and Border protection officers located at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports seized over $6 million worth of counterfeit goods arriving from China last month, a 24 percent increase from last year.