The second annual Europol Intellectual Property Crime Conference will take place today and tomorrow in Budapest, Hungary, and will explore technological approaches to tackling intellectual property crime.
The theme of this year’s Europol Intellectual Property Crime Conference is creating a blueprint for accurate and functional enforcement of intellectual property law to prevent a growing number of crimes in this area across Europe.
According to Europol, intellectual property crime can harm the health and safety of European citizens, the environment and national economies, making it a priority area for the law enforcement organisation.
How does the conference aim to combat intellectual property crime?
The event will be attended by around 400 representatives from law enforcement authorities, industry organisations and academia from almost 50 countries, who will discuss the ways that technology and collaboration can tackle counterfeiting, audio-visual piracy and breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation, and facilitate online investigations.
Europol organised the event alongside the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA) and the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC). According to the NTCA’s director general, László Vankó, intellectual property crimes account for 8% of the crimes that the organisation detects, and a growth in cybercrime is changing the ways that law enforcement agencies must respond.
How will the event help defence and security stakeholders?
The conference presents the opportunity to collaborate and consolidate partnerships between relevant stakeholders, which will in turn facilitate a stronger response from law enforcement authorities. According to Europol’s executive director, Catherine De Bolle, the event will reinforce the agency’s own Intellectual Property Crime Co-ordinated Coalition Centre by taking advantage of existing overlaps in capabilities.
She explained: “Intellectual property crime is a highly lucrative criminal business. Europol… strengthens partnerships with all stakeholders involved to effectively combat this crime, both online and offline. This conference offers the opportunity to reinforce existing synergies, further exchange information and expertise, and work on a joint cross-border response to tackle this problem.”
