05 March 2002

ELSPA PRAISE CARDIFF TRADING STANDARDS AS THEY CONTINUE TO KEEP COUNTERFEITERS AT BAY

The man, who has been under suspicion of selling pirated computer games software was raided at his home in the Llanishen area on 31st January 2002. Here officers discovered almost 800 computer games’ CDs and a computer system, which is believed to have been used in the production process of the suspect pirated copies.

All items, which have an estimated equivalent retail value of more than £18,000.00p, were seized by the officers are now with ELSPA’s Anti-Piracy Unit where they will undergo forensic examinations to confirm their legality.

Roger Bennett, Director General of ELSPA said:

“The continued and concerted actions of Cardiff Trading Standards Department, have drastically reduced the sellers of illegal counterfeit items in this area. It is all credit to them, supported by ELSPA, that this activity is being removed from the streets of Cardiff.

“On behalf of the membership of ELSPA, we would like to extend our thanks for
their proactive and professional attitude to this type of crime".

ELSPA is the computer games industry watchdog which represents the interests of games publishers. They have a dedicated Anti-Piracy Unit which is made up of investigators across the country.

According to ELSPA, the UK video games industry loses £3 billion every year to piracy. In 80% of the raids carried out by ELSPA, there is evidence of other criminal activity operating alongside piracy including drug trafficking, pornography and even terrorism.

ELSPA’s advice to shoppers on how to spot a fake game is:

1. Buy from a recognised outlet, never from street traders, ‘door-to-door’ salesmen or car boot sales.

2. Look at the packaging; avoid poor quality or photocopied printed labels and jewel cases, packaging where the bar coding is not shown, and those which are not marked with a holographic seal.

3. Genuine PlayStation 2 games are blue on the back - and DVD’s are silver and are not released on recordable CD’s. Fakes are usually on gold colored CD’s

Anyone with any information on computer games piracy should contact the police, their local Trading Standards Office or call the ELSPA Hotline on 0870 5133405

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