The Act does not create new offences but updates the criminal provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents (CDPA) Act of 1998, to bring them in line with the penalties already provided for trade mark infringement. It also amends the Trade Marks Act of 1994 in respect of search warrants and powers of seizure.
Specifically, the maximum penalty for certain offences under the CDPA will be increased from two to ten years in prison and an unlimited fine.
These offences include making or dealing with infringing copies of copyrighted material or articles designed for making such copies, making or dealing with illicit recordings of performances and dealing with any device designed or adopted to decode an encrypted transmission (i.e. unauthorised decoders).
The Act also provides for quicker search warrants and gives police the authority to seize PCs, servers and other equipment of companies using unlicensed software or breaching the terms of their licenses. It is noted that, until now, police could only seize equipment of traders or importers of illicit material.
The Copyright, etc. and Trade Marks (Offences and Enforcement) Act 2002 can be found at:
www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2002/20020025.htm