Lucky and Flo, black Labrador Retrievers, have been trained to detect 'optical discs' by scent. Their success has meant that Malaysian organised crime gangs have put a price on their heads. The dogs' talents emerged as a campaign said by organisers to be the largest ever collaboration on anti-piracy in the UK was officially launched yesterday. The pilot initiative, involving the Metropolitan Police, the Motion Picture Association and the UK Film Council among others, aims to make London a "fake free zone" by the time of the 2012 Olympics. Higher Education and Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy helped launch the initiative.
He said: "Legislation alone will not combat counterfeiting and piracy. "Good law is great but enforced law is better. "The Fake Free London campaign sends a clear message that we are all serious about tackling this problem. "This partnership will ensure that consumers, legitimate businesses and their employees are protected from those that choose to break the law." Copyright theft cost the film and television industries £486 million in 2007. The campaign aims to educate local government, businesses, traders and the wider community about the seriousness of piracy. In the first two-week period of the programme, 39 arrests were made. This included 82 seizures in Tower Hamlets, Brent & Harrow and Lewisham. In total around 90,250 DVDs were seized along with credit cards and a computer. Adrian Wootton, head of Film London said: "The general public need to know that piracy has a devastating loss to the UK film and TV industry... "This not only affects the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people who work in the UK film industry but may start to impact on the creativity and quality of films themselves."
He said: "Legislation alone will not combat counterfeiting and piracy. "Good law is great but enforced law is better. "The Fake Free London campaign sends a clear message that we are all serious about tackling this problem. "This partnership will ensure that consumers, legitimate businesses and their employees are protected from those that choose to break the law." Copyright theft cost the film and television industries £486 million in 2007. The campaign aims to educate local government, businesses, traders and the wider community about the seriousness of piracy. In the first two-week period of the programme, 39 arrests were made. This included 82 seizures in Tower Hamlets, Brent & Harrow and Lewisham. In total around 90,250 DVDs were seized along with credit cards and a computer. Adrian Wootton, head of Film London said: "The general public need to know that piracy has a devastating loss to the UK film and TV industry... "This not only affects the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people who work in the UK film industry but may start to impact on the creativity and quality of films themselves."
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