The BPI is urging, possibly insisting, certainly suggesting that the government be more proactive in the fight against CD piracy, telling CMU (and anyone else who'll listen) that they feel intellectual property crime should be "higher on the police's agenda".
All this urging, insisting and suggesting follows the release of a BPI commissioned report that estimates that 37 million pirated CDs were sold in the UK in 2005, costing the sector £165 million, nearly 10% of its total sales. Of those pirated CDs, a third were sold at markets and car boot sales, while a quarter were sold on a casual basis between friends.
The trade body concludes that it feels trading standards officers should be granted the "duty, power and resources to tackle copyright offences". BPI boss Peter Jamieson said that police and trading standards officers did do a "superb job in difficult and dangerous circumstances" with regard to copyright crimes, but added that they were operating with "very limited resources", and that those resources should be increased.
The trade body is also pushing for stricter fines for convicted counterfeiters, and for rules that extend liability for the sale of pirated CDs to the owners of markets who offer counterfeiters a stall.