Government considers £50,000 piracy fines

Posted on 12 Aug 2008 at 14:50

The UK government is consulting on plans to increase the maximum fine for online copyright infringement from £5,000 to £50,000.

The plan is to make the penalty for online infringement the same as magistrates’ courts can currently impose for physical copying of copyright material. This was a key recommendation of the 2006 Government-sponsored Gowers Review of Intellectual Property.

The UK Intellectual Property Office, which produced the consultation paper, said that implementing higher maximum fines would allow courts to impose penalties that reflect the extent of the infringement.

“Our investigations concluded that introducing exceptional summary maxima fines would allow magistrates’ courts to deal effectively with copyright offences as they would be able to award fines that took account of the illegal profits made from such offences,” it said.

The fine would apply to offences under the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act which include making, dealing with or using illicit recordings and employing devices and services designed to circumvent technological measures, such as DRM.

Author: Simon Aughton

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