UK Officials Seize Pirate Assets

Officials from ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) have revealed the latest success of the British trade organization’s anti piracy unit, with twenty duplicating machines seized in a raid in the south east of the country. The raid at a house in Lowestoft, Suffolk resulted in the arrest of a man suspected of profiting from illegally copied games, music CDs, cinema titles and unclassified pornography worth an estimated £40,000 ($75,000). The operation was conducted by officers from Suffolk Trading Standards, Suffolk Police, officials from MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) and ELSPA anti-piracy investigators and saw twenty duplicating machines and 5,000 master discs seized from the man’s premises. The unnamed man was arrested and later released on police bail to return in three months. It is thought the man was trading via a website, set up solely for the purpose of distributing the illegal items. ELSPA have also suggested that his activities also extended to trading to customers outside the UK. Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA commented: “This operation is a real feather in the cap for Suffolk Trading Standards, the MPCS and ELSPA who, through carefully coordinated action, have put the brakes on another internet pirate’s illegal activities.”