Fakes worth thousands seized in Sheffield raid

European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has predicted an explosion in software piracy as a Sheffield police raid recovered thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit games.

Working with Sheffield City Council Trading Standards Department, ELSPA and the police carried out a raid on 22 October, uncovering 5,000 counterfeit and pirated CDs, worth more than #600,000 in intellectual property, a quarter of which were computer games.

Terry Anslow, chief investigator at ELSPA, said: 'Games retailers are losing their livelihoods on counterfeit products, which deprive them of sales.'

This year, ELSPA has been involved in more than 150 cases where arrest warrants have been issued. Anslow said: 'It is exploding.'

He added: 'It is critical to recoup the costs of manufacturing games in the first few weeks of release, before people can counterfeit software and put it up on the internet.'

Four men, all living in the Sheffield area, were arrested during the raid and are on bail pending the result of further enquiries.

According to ELSPA, #30,000 worth of products were also seized including 10 computers, scanners, audio equipment and CD writers which are being examined for potential forfeiture before the court.

Detective Sergeant Wiegold at Sheffield police said: 'There is a lot of documentary evidence in cases of this kind, such as price lists. People think counterfeiting is an easy way to make money.'

Anslow said: 'Minor criminals are moving to counterfeiting because they believe they are not going to get caught. They think they are not hurting anyone but they are killing the development of games.'

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