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.
