Seizures reported last week include 480,000 cartons of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes in Nigeria… South Africa’s largest ever seizure of pirated DVDs was made at OR Tambo airport… In Mongolia toxic fake liquor has killed 14 and hospitalised 126 people in recent weeks. The sale of all liquor has been banned throughout the country and the factory that produced the deadly alcohol has been closed.

Cases and outcomes reported last week include a Chinese company paying damages to the sports brand Puma after a court ruled that they had counterfeited Puma’s brand.

Policy developments last week include the UK government urging ISPs to develop systems to stop people illegally downloading movies and television programmes, those found doing so are likely to have their internet service terminated… Also in the UK, new legislation will provide more protection against counterfeiters for Scotch whisky makers… In Qatar the ministry of economy and commerce has signed an MoU with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) to help combat software piracy in the country.

Studies and reports out include the Intellectual Property Crime report published by the UK Intellectual Property Office. The report shows increasing levels of counterfeit alcohol being found in the UK, which is often toxic… Both the United Nations Inter-regional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and the World Health Organisation’s International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) have released reports highlighting the deadly effect counterfeit pharmaceuticals are having worldwide.