The Anti-Counterfeiting Group

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Proceeds of Crime

PROCEEDS OF CRIME

In addition to the criminal provisions of the Trade Marks Act, and the common law offence of conspiracy (often used in cases where proving trade mark offences might be difficult), an extremely useful weapon against counterfeiters is the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). In separate proceedings their assets can be traced and will be confiscated unless they can prove that those assets are NOT the proceeds of a criminal lifestyle.

Thanks to effective lobbying by ACG and other rights organisations in the Alliance Against IP Theft, IP crime is included in the list of 'lifestyle offences' which can trigger POCA proceedings.

Following the handover on 1 April to the Serious Organised Crime Agency from the Assets Recovery Agency, we have prepared a briefing on some of the main aspects of POCA outlining:

how assets recovery will be managed in future

the Assets Recovery Action plan consultation

the POCA incentivisation scheme

Link to ACG POCA briefing
Link to POCA cases
Link to Payback Times February 2010
Link to Payback Times November 2009
Link to Payback Times July 2009
Link to Payback Times April 2009
Link to Payback Times January 2009
Link to Payback Times October 2008

See also ACG-Alliance Enforcement Notes for TS colleagues' comments on how POCA is working. Link to Notes

LACORS held a useful conference about POCA/assets recovery and the presentations can be accessed via this Link to LACORS conference 16 January.

There have been some great results in counterfeiting cases where confiscation proceedings have seized substantial assets and proved more effective than the outcome of the original prosecution.

See our In Court section for more details and do send us your results!

Link to In Court

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