A report from the US Justice Department show that the number of cases involving counterfeiting prosecuted has increased since 2004. The number is an effect of an increased focus on IP crime which follows the recommendations of a previous report from 2004. The report describes a number of cases and initiatives formulated to combat IP crime, and is interesting reading. On case describes a guy going to jail for 21 months for camcording a premiere movie in a movie theatre. That’s harsh compared to Danish cases but when you see the statistics from the US you see that 135 people was sentenced to jailtime for counterfeiting in the US, 3 of these for 60 months or more.Â
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Even though the numbers of people going to jail is larger than earlier the time they go to jail is pretty much the same. In 2004 19,7 % of the sentenced was sent away for 1-12 months. In 2008 it was 19,8 %. And the percentage of offenders going away for 60+ months has actually dropped from 3,9 % to 1,2% which is well below the median for the 2004-08 period. So more people in the system, but the sentencing is the same.
