Film theft in the UK - Future of Copyright

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judge would then be able to award an
appropriate amount within a set range. Such
damages are available in other countries such
as the US, Canada and Israel, and constitute an
effective remedy in an area where it is often
impossible to assess the extent of infringing
activity. The criminal nature of piracy usually
means that records showing the extent of
pirate sales do not exist, or any that do exist are
unreliable.
(See Chapter 5, sub-heading: ‘Copyright
protection in the UK’.)
3 Introduce a comprehensive package of
legislative reforms designed to curb the sale of
pirate products at street markets, car boot sales
and via other forms of informal trading 62
These reforms would include:
• Enactment of amendment s107A of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
(CDPA) so that trading standards professionals
have the power to enforce copyright law,
bringing the sector into line with the law of
trademarks;
• Introduction of an improved registration
scheme that would require owners and
organisers of occasional sales to notify the local
Trading Standards authority 21 days in advance
as well as place an obligation on the organiser
to gather names, address and vehicle licence
details of all dealers at the sale. The scheme
should also oblige organisers to also note the
type of goods being sold (eg anyone selling
new DVDs is going to be of interest);
• Introduction of new powers to allow Trading
Standards Officers to close down occasional
sales that persistently include trading of
counterfeit goods. This could be done via an
enforcement order under the Enterprise Act
(formerly “stop now” orders). It would require
the recipient of the order (the sale organiser) to
comply with the local authority order to cease
allowing the illegal practice. In default an
injunction can be sought. Alternatively an
offence could be created for failure to comply
with the notice;
• Introduction of a requirement for the person
giving registration details to the authorities on
behalf of the trader to be over 18 years. This is
intended to clamp down on the habit of
traders using under-age children as a front for
their illegal activity in order to avoid liability.
While it will not be able to stop this entirely, it
will ensure that an adult has to be present
when registration is taking place and will
remain within the precinct of the market;
• Amendment of the Proceeds of Crime Act to
enable trading standards to recover the costs of
prosecution of IP offences. This would help
address the problem of local authorities not
having sufficient funds to allocate to
prosecution of IP crime and ensure that serious
IP offences could be pursued in the courts; and
• Make it a legal obligation for Trading
Standards to submit information on
investigations and prosecutions being
undertaken for IP infringement to the Patents
Office. This would require amendment to the
Copyright Designs and Patents Act (in tandem
with implementation of s107A) and to the
Trade Marks Act 1994, and possibly to TDA as
well to allow disclosure to the Patents Office
and to include investigations.
(See Chapter 5, sub-heading ‘Enforcement at a
local level’.)
4 Introduce legislation to make the act of
camcording a film in a cinema a criminal
offence. It is implausible that someone
camcording in a cinema would be doing so for
any other reason than financial gain. This is
already being done in a number of US states.
(See Chapter 5, sub-heading ‘Copyright
protection in the UK’.)
5 Through the Creative Industries IP Forum,
and working in conjunction with Ofcom and
other appropriate organisations, promote the
development and spread of open crossplatform
global standards related to Digital
Rights Management (DRM), maintaining the