The government is expected to use an upcoming Creative and Business International (c&binet) conference to outline the details of the International Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta).

The UK Intellectual Property Office has been leading the country's involvement with Acta, and are expected to decide on massively increased penalties for copyright violation.

Acta are determined to fight a £100bn global trade in fake and stolen goods, by creating a uniform legal system that enforces intellectual property rights worldwide.

Documents, prepared by leading US music and film publishers for Acta, were posted on ‘whistle-blower' site Wikileaks.com recently. But there has been outrage about the severity of copyright infringement being internationally proposed.

The "draconian" documents imply that further licence will be given to authorities to survey internet traffic, whilst suspected users of stolen material will face criminal charges for use of unlicensed works, and their possessions impounded by officials.

The c&binet conference is scheduled for October this year and will be brimming with leading figures from the creative and financial industries. All involved are determined to eradicate the copyright plague currently tearing across the globe.

Rowlands Partner Chris Hacking comments that one of the problems over the past two decades is that the illegal business in pirated dvds, films and music has led to an increasing involvement of the criminal law in what used to be an essentially civil matter. In a number of respects the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 is not apt to deal with new media offences including, importantly, the transmission of satellite broadcasts from overseas. New more focused legislation is required not only to attack the illegal activities of the copyright pirates but also to ensure that the issue is at all times one of true copyright protection and not the support of anti competitive monopolies.