VARs are set to reap the benefits of an imminent anti-piracy crackdown on UK firms by Trading Standards.

The government body was handed new powers to enforce copyright offences in April 2007, but only recently carried out its first joint raid with the police using these powers.

John Lovelock, chief executive of the Federation Against Software Theft (The Federation), which supplied the information that led to the raid, urged Trading Standards to step up its activities.

Lovelock said The Federation is close to unveiling a tool that will allow Trading Standards to investigate what software is installed on suspected pirates’ networks once they have entered the premises.

“We want them to exercise section 107A [of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988] further, but we need to ensure they are correctly equipped when they go in,” he said.

“If people take cognisance of what is going on they will see a rise in licence purchases,” Lovelock added.

Michala Wardell, head of anti-piracy at Microsoft, said: “Copyright infringement is something we are looking to work on with Trading Standards to create a level playing field for the channel.”