ELSPA puts daily raids on agenda

The European Leisure Software Publisher Association (ELSPA) has revealed that it has resorted to daily dawn raids in its attempt to halt the rising tide of software piracy.

The association estimated that piracy costs the UK software industry #3 billion each year.

Terry Anslow, chief investigator of the ELSPA crime unit, told PC Dealer exclusively: 'The problem has expanded considerably. We are trying to hit the higher levels, not the one-man bands. In Sheffield, we issued five warrants in an early morning raid last week. We seized 14 PCs and 5,000 disks.'

As the courts show greater recognition of the problem, the penalties are becoming harsher. Anslow added: 'Not only will all goods be seized, piracy carries the risk of a criminal record. This year, three jail terms have been handed out, one of four months to a first-time offender.'

Anslow said software counterfeiters could sell 600 disks per day in the run-up to Christmas and are increasingly using the internet.

Police and Trading Standards officers joined ELSPA investigators in Shrewsbury on 17 November to raid the home of a 43-year-old man. Police officers seized two computers and 1,000 counterfeit CDs, to the value of nearly a quarter of a million pounds. The suspect was later released on police bail.

The following day, a 28-year-old man from Nuneaton was the subject of a police raid that netted goods worth more than £76,000. On 20 November, another £100,000 of goods were seized in Gwent. During this raid, the suspect attacked an ELSPA officer.

Nick Gibson, analyst at Durlacher, said: 'Piracy will never go away and it is getting easier and cheaper. The problem is costing the industry a lot and ELSPA has to get tough to prevent this.'