The BPI has hailed the news that a market trader who sold counterfeit CDS will have to pay back the proceeds of his crime.
The body has been involved in working with Trading Standards on the case, which saw Andrew Thornton of Corby sentenced to 30 months imprisonment in May this year. He was punished for participating in a fraud that involved the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit CDs and DVDs at Bovingdon Saturday Market.
Thornton will now have to pay back the proceeds of his crime, a move the BPI’s head of content production Tim Cooper called a “significant and welcome ruling”.
“This can only strengthen deterrence and make counterfeiters really think twice,” Cooper continued. “Custodial sentences have an important part to play in the fight against fake CDs, vinyl and DVDs, but if a would-be infringer knows they would also be financially liable, not just for their ill-gotten gains but against future earnings, this could have a strong, additional deterrent effect. This kind of fraud is a real threat to high street stores and to jobs, and quite simply rips off customers, so it's vital the legal system backs us with the most effective enforcement possible. The market for physical music product must be protected."
Evidence in the case against Thornton was collected over a three-year investigation up to June 2014, during which nearly 27,000 CDs and DVDs were seized.
At a hearing last month, it was decided that Thornton was liable to the confiscation of assets worth £60,000. Thornton has three months to pay the full sum, with a further three-month extension possible. The default sentence for non-payment is a further 12 months in prison.
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