The aim of the proposals is to make the penalties from both online offences and large scale copyright infringement of physical goods equivalent. The current maximum sentence for commerical infringement of copyright is two years and is dealt with under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988.  

Greater protections

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, the UK intellectual property minister, commented: 'The government takes copyright crime extremely seriously – it hurts businesses, consumers and the wider economy both on and offline. Our creative industries are worth more than £7bn to the UK economy and it’s important to protect them from online criminal enterprises.' She added: 'By toughening penalties for commercial-scale online offending we are offering greater protections to businesses and sending a clear message to deter criminals.' Source: The Guardian