With nearly 50% of all fake perfumes, sports goods, CDs, videos and 'character' merchandise sold in the weeks prior to Christmas, the Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy is warning retail security managers to remain vigilant in the weeks ahead.
The warning comes in the wake of a new Parliamentary Bill to protect copyright, which came into force this Autumn. The Copyright etc and Trade Mark (Offences and Enforcement) Bill aims to deter would-be counterfeiters by introducing tougher penalties (including up to ten years' imprisonment for intellectual property infringement).

There is a tendency to talk about counterfeiting as being a 'victimless crime', but it can be a very serious matter. The high returns and relatively low risk have attracted all sorts of organised crime groups. Indeed, the National Criminal Intelligence Service estimates that 60% of organised crime groups involved in product copying are also dabbling in drug trafficking.

According to the Alliance, counterfeiting and piracy cost UK industry over £8.5 billion in 2001.

Speaking exclusively to Security Management Today about the warning, Lindsay Hudson (of corporate protection specialist the Maxima Group) commented: "As long as the general public still perceive this as some form of non-crime and the Judiciary continues to mete out penalties that do not reflect its serious nature, the counterfeiters will continue to laugh all the way to the bank."

Hudson is urging retail security managers to be particularly alert in the run-up to Christmas.

"Will this new legislation be enough to deter new entrants to the counterfeiting arena? Will it make hardened criminals already involved think again?" said Hudson. "The industry will be watching and waiting with interest this Christmas, that's for sure."