City of London Police says that a total of 61 infringing sites have been identified

Dec 9, 2013 12:58 GMT  ·  By

A total of 40 websites found to be serving copyrighted content have been shut down as part of Operation Creative, a campaign launched by British authorities in the summer of 2013. Many of them are said to have generated serious profit for their owners through advertising programs.

The 40 websites have been suspended by domain name registrars. The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), a new unit of the City of London Police, reports that both national and international websites are on the list.

A total of 61 sites have been identified as profiting from advertising, and operating without licenses from copyright holders. The owners of these websites have been contacted and encouraged to correct their behavior and start operating legitimately.

Brands, agencies and ad networks have been instructed to stop collaborating with those who refused to comply.

Websites that continued their illegal activities were shut down after formal letters were sent out by the PIPCU to domain name registrars.

“Operation Creative is being run by PIPCU and the digital and advertising sectors to really get to grips with a criminal industry that is making substantial profits by providing and actively promoting access to illegally obtained and copyrighted material,” commented Superintendent Bob Wishart, from PIPCU.

“Together we have created a process that first and foremost encourages offenders to change their behaviour so they are operating within the law. However, if they refuse to comply we now have the means to persuade businesses to move their advertising to different platforms and, if offending continues, for registrars to suspend the websites.”

Operation Creative is the result of a partnership between the City of London Police, the UK advertising industry and rights holders. The members of the advertising industry that take part in the project are IAB UK, ISBA and IPA. The rights holders’ representatives are FACT, BPI, IFPI and The Publishers Association.