City of London Police calls for global collaboration to tackle IP crime
City of London Police commander Steve Head has called for greater global co-operation and a worldwide 'day of action' to tackle organised criminal networks profiting from intellectual property (IP) crime.
Commander Head addresses the conference
Speaking at an International Law Enforcement conference on IP theft in Vietnam, Head, who is the Police National Coordinator for Economic Crime, highlighted the role of the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) in combating copyright infringing websites and the sale of counterfeit goods online.
Head told the delegates: “PIPCU is a pioneer in the way it is tackling intellectual property crime, moving away from traditional policing methods to embrace new and innovative initiatives to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks responsible for causing huge damage to legitimate businesses.”
The commander also highlighted the unit’s close collaboration with private sector businesses who found themselves: “inadvertently supporting IP crime either through advertising or allowing payment provision on websites that are providing illegal access to copyrighted material”.
Since its launch in September 2013 PIPCU has been responsible for arrests over Illegal sports streaming websites and the sale of pirated software online.
The conference, which was was co-hosted by INTERPOL and the Vietnam National Police, was attended by more than 500 public and private delegates from nearly 70 countries.