Cases and outcomes last week include two concerning DVD pirates; a woman in the US and a man in the UK have been jailed for 30 months and 6 months respectively… In the US, Microsoft Corp. has filed 21 lawsuits against alleged software pirates in 14 states… Also in the US, a physician has been sentenced to 27 months in prison after injecting more than 170 patients with fake botox, she must also pay them more than $98,000 in restitution.

Policy developments last week include a large number relating to downloading and online piracy… In Canada there are plans to strengthen copyright laws that will make it illegal to break digital locks on songs and other works... In France, legislators have pressed ahead with the “Loi Hadopi” law that has the purpose of both clamping down on internet piracy and shifting the responsibility to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs)... Similar calls to make ISPs responsible for illegal downloading have been made in Spain and the US …In contrast, the Swedish Left Party last week voted in favor of a motion that would legalise the sharing of copyrighted files for personal use… A number of African countries including Kenya, Namibia and Nigeria have called for more to be done against those involved in the trade of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, in particular the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control is calling for life sentences to be imposed on fake medicine dealers.

Studies and reports out last week include one by Pharmaceutical Security Institute that shows seizures of counterfeit prescription drugs increased by 24% in 2007.