While there’s no question that digital copyright infringement poses the most significant threat to our industry, we mustn’t forget the sale of infringing DVDs – particularly within the market and car boot environment – which continues to cannibalise disk sales: the industry’s most valuable revenue stream. 

Back in 2009 the Industry Trust, in partnership with the Alliance for IP, created the Real Deal Charter for the operation of safe and counterfeit free markets. The programme brings together a significant cross sector of IP industries way beyond audio-visual, spanning clothing, shoes, tobacco, electrical goods and sportswear, to name check just a few. 

The Charter was originally conceived to bring pressure to bear on those infringement hot spots that posed a long-term challenge for enforcement authorities and industry because of their established histories of organised crime. Today however, it has been embraced as the blue print for the effective operation of markets. 

The terms of the Charter are supported by markets and local authorities across the four nations and have even been endorsed as the acceptable benchmark by the High Court of Appeal.  The Trust continues to manage the programme and has been the majority funder since its inception. The aspiration for 2014 is for the project to be endorsed by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) with OHIM taking on the funding requirement and rolling the project out across a selection of other European territories.

 

Key successes for the Real Deal Charter his year include:

  • IP Crime Report recognition: In the latest IP Crime Report, published by the IPO on 29 June, the Real Deal was identified as one of the three key achievements of the year
  • Adoption of the Real Deal Charter by Local Authorities: across the UK’s 203 local authority trading standards services, 49 are now using the Real Deal charter with a further 26 in the process of introducing it
  • A central role in the Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group’s Strategy: in May the Real Deal was introduced into Scotland as a key part of the Scottish Anti Illicit Trade Strategy which is being implemented by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre
  • Strengthened relationship with the UK market sector: The relationship between Real Deal and the UK market sector has been strengthened even further this year through several partnership initiatives with the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) and the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF)

Find out more here.

Thank you for your collaboration

Alongside the Real Deal and Content Map, the Film Nation UK partnership brings a third, powerful collaboration into play for the Trust this year.

These unique but effective initiatives bring a cross-section of sectors together to educate audiences about the importance of respecting copyright in a unified and uniquely powerful way. They reinforce the Trust’s expertise in leading initiatives that bring together a diverse range of stakeholders to deliver to a common copyright goal.

I’d like to thank all of the partners involved in these initiatives for their invaluable, collaborative contributions.