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 Customs’s Enforcement division, when they successfully detained a consignment of counterfeit goods that was intercepted while in transit to a third country.

The goods in question consisted of 432 units of counterfeit Xbox controllers that formed part of a much larger shipment including other world-famous brands and which were also counterfeit. 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 these actions by Malta Customs 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.

The manufacture and distribution of counterfeit and pirated goods creates a serious problem for hardware and software developers.

BSA will continue to work with the authorities to ensure that companies in Malta fulfil a legal obligation to ensure that all 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 sees no cause for complacency.

The Maltese rate of 43 per cent means that over €5.4 million is robbed from the country revenues and the rate is way too high compared to the EU average of 32 per cent.