Online copyright pirates face 10 years in prison under UK plans

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Online copyright pirates face 10 years in prison under UK plans

PRISON

The UK government has launched a consultation on increasing the maximum prison sentence for commercial-scale online copyright infringement from two to 10 years

PRISON

This will bring the maximum sentence for online infringement into line with that for physical infringement.

Announcing the consultation, IP Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said: “By toughening penalties for commercial-scale online offending we are offering greater protections to businesses and sending a clear message to deter criminals.”

Eddy Leviten, director general of the Alliance for Intellectual Property, added: “This consultation is very welcome as we feel there is a clear anomaly in the way that online copyright infringement by criminal enterprises is treated by the justice system.”

The consultation is a response to calls from the creative industries and recommendations made in the independent review Penalty Fair?

More information about the consultation is available online and it closes on August 17.

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