Seizures reported last week include various raids across the US which yielded large numbers of counterfeit and pirated trainers, clothing, luxury goods and optical discs… Fake automobile parts were seized in India in the latest raid as part of an ongoing crack down, and a spurious liquor factory has also been shut down in a separate raid in the country… A massive seizure of fake Lacoste products has taken place in the Philippines, elsewhere in the country an anti-piracy raid has yielded computers and software.

Cases and Outcomes reported last week include the first illegal file-sharing case to go before a jury in the US, and resulted in the defendant having to pay $9250 for each of the 24 shared songs which were the subject of the lawsuit … A major crack down on an illegal peer-to-peer network in Italy resulted in eleven people facing prosecution… A Chinese court has ordered France’s Schneider Electric to pay a Chinese company $45m in damages for infringing its patent, the largest amount ever awarded in an intellectual property case in the country… Electronics manufacture Cisco has reached a settlement with Manchester based Gen-X IT after it was caught selling counterfeit products in 2005… Microsoft has won £35,000 in damages against a trader who sold counterfeit software via channels such as eBay.

Studies and Reports out last week include the US Trade Representative “Special 301” report which states that Bangladesh has been put on the US’ watch list of countries that allow piracy… A study by Gallup found that even though more people are buying pirated goods, 75% of people said they would like stricter counterfeiting laws.