Impact of IP Theft

The UK has always valued intellectual property and recognised the need for those holders of intellectual property to be able to capitalise on their creations.  This can be seen in the increasingly successful British film and music industries through, for example, the international success of films such as Harry Potter and bands such as Coldplay.  The British computer game industry is a similarly valuable contributor to both the UK economy and British innovation through highly successful games such as Tomb Raider.  The quality and value of British innovation and design permeates much wider, however, than simply the creative industries, highlighted by such worldwide-acclaimed designs and products such as Concorde, the Mini, the Dyson vacuum cleaner, the worldwideweb and the Dr Martens boot, making Britain synonymous with innovation and quality. 

However, such innovation is only possible in an environment where intellectual property is properly valued and protected.  With intellectual property theft growing and becoming more ingrained as an organised criminal activity, British industry is losing billions of pounds a year, the Treasury is losing significant tax revenue, consumers are being put at risk and ripped off, and local legitimate businesses are finding it hard to compete with the illegal traders. The impact can thus be measured in terms of economic, consumer and social harm.