Seizures and discoveries include the confiscation of a vast amount of fake fertiliser weighing almost 1000 tonnes from a number of factories in Vietnam… In the US, ports on both the east and west coast seized a large number of fake Nike trainers… German customs authorities dismantled a massive counterfeit pharmaceutical distribution ring and arrested seven people… Similarly in Malaysia, a container has been seized holding over 10,000 fake pills… In Australia, fake luxury fashion goods were seized worth more than A$500,000… Similar luxury goods were seized in Macedonia and Romania… Pirated CDs and DVDs were seized in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Turkey and the USA.

Cases and outcomes include in Italy, a judge ordering the operators of a number of online music pirate websites to forfeit more than €2.4 million… In the USA, the retrial of Jammie Thomas, the first person to go to court over illegal file sharing after refusing to settle with the Recording Industry Association of America, was ordered to pay $80,000 per song awarding a total of $1.92 million to the record companies… Similarly in Ireland, an ISP is being sued by the record companies for allowing illegal file sharing over its network.

Policy developments include in the UK, a change that could potentially force companies to go to court every time they want counterfeit goods stopped at the UK’s borders by customs officials.