A police operation has disrupted illegal websites providing pirated access to films, TV, books, music and games. Police report an 87 per cent drop in adverts for licensed gambling operators being displayed on illegal sites that infringe copyright in the last 12 months.
In October 2016, the UK regulator the Gambling Commission made placing digital adverts responsibly a licensing condition for all gambling operators targeting consumers in Great Britain. This condition means that licensees must not place adverts on illegal websites and must take all reasonable steps to ensure that third parties under contract with them take the same approach, as these illegal websites harm not only the UK’s creative industries but also the UK consumer.
Data was gathered on 40 gambling operators who hold a Gambling Commission licence and are members of the IWL. The Gambling Commission has been working with industry to raise awareness of the new condition and requirements and has already taken what it terms targeted interventions to ensure compliance.
PIPCU launched Operation Creative and the IWL in 2013 to tackle the funding of illegal streaming websites that adversely impact on the UK’s creative industries. This is a police endorsed list of websites which host copyright infringing content and is used by advertisers and advertising networks to avoid placing adverts on them and therefore passing revenue to them.
Research carried out earlier this year by whiteBULLET suggested a 64pc decrease in advertising from the UK’s top ad spending companies on copyright infringing websites.
Acting Detective Superintendent Peter Ratcliffe, Head of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), said: “The success of a strong relationship built between PIPCU and The Gambling Commission can be seen by these figures. This is a fantastic example of a joint working initiative between police and an industry regulator.
“We commend the 40 gambling companies who are already using the Infringing Website List and encourage others to sign up. We will continue to encourage all UK advertisers to become a member of the Infringing Website List to ensure they’re not inadvertently funding criminal websites”
Tim Moss, CEO of the UK Intellectual Property Office, said: “Partnership work is clearly having a major impact on IP crime across the UK. PIPCU and the Gambling Commission have cut off yet another illicit revenue stream for unscrupulous IP thieves. The government and its partners will continue to fight IP crime in all its forms. Those wishing to profit from the hard work of others will not have an easy ride.”
