The Business Software Alliance, the voice of the world’s software and internet industry, praised the work carried out by Malta Customs, in particular by the Intellectual Property Rights section of the enforcement division of Customs, when they successfully detained a consignment of counterfeit goods which was intercepted while in transit to a third country in recent weeks.

The goods consisted of 432 units of counterfeit Microsoft Xbox controllers which formed part of a much larger shipment which included other world-famous brands, also counterfeit in nature.

Xbox is a registered trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation. Following the observation and conclusion of the necessary administrative procedures at law, Customs coordinated and attended to the actual supervision of the destruction of the counterfeit Xbox controllers.

The BSA described Malta Customs’ action as a very important step in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy which is led by Malta’s enforcement authorities, namely Customs and the police authorities.

BSA said the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit and pirated goods creates a serious problem for hardware and software developers. It will continue to work with legal authorities to ensure that companies in Malta fulfill a legal obligation to ensure that all of the hardware and software products sold by their establishment are genuine and that they are accompanied by licensed and genuine computer software products.

Although the piracy rate in Malta has been decreasing slowly since 1995, when it recorded a 77 per cent high, BSA said it sees no cause for complacency. The Maltese rate of 43 per cent means that over €5.4 million are steered from the country revenues and the rate is way too high compared to the EU average of 32 per cent.