Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many successful convictions were secured by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Figures for the years in question are as follows;

(a) 2013-14, 16 arrests, 2 cautions

(b) 2014-15, 33 arrests, 11 cautions

(c) 2015-16, 13 arrests, 1 caution, 1 conviction

Securing convictions is not the sole aim of the unit. Equally important in the fight against IP crime is the Unit’s work on taking down infringing websites and pursuing broader disruptive activity.