Fast backs Whitehall copyright clampdown

The Federation Against Software Theft (Fast) has welcomed government moves to clamp down on copyright piracy.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has established the Creative Industries IPR Forum to provide a national strategy for dealing with intellectual property (IP) crime.

The DTI's strategy, to be unveiled later in the summer, is expected to set out priorities, combine the activities of various agencies and improve the processing of information to support enforcement processes.

A copyright strategy group, to be chaired by the science minister Lord Sainsbury and arts minister Estelle Morris is also to be established.

Geoff Webster, chief executive of Fast, said in a statement: "Without IP protection the software sector, indeed the whole content industry, could not exist, let alone prosper.

"In today's digital world IP is the key to our future, and in an increasingly competitive global economy any attack on our intellectual capital is an attack on the economy itself. We look forward to working with this new group."

According to the DTI, creative industries employ nearly two million people and produce almost £1 in every £12 of UK total gross domestic product, a higher proportion than in any other country.

These industries contribute £11.4bn to the balance of trade, well ahead of the construction industry, insurance and pensions, and pharmaceutical sector.