John, scourge of the pirates; SANDWELL: Award for enforcer who hunts down fake DVDs.

Byline: By Tony Deeley

A SANDWELL trading standards chief who leads the fight to prosecute sellers of fake goods is celebrating a catch of his own with a top award.

Enforcement officer John Bright has received an individual award for excellence from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA).

The award follows five years work in which John and his colleagues have seized nearly one million counterfeit items worth between pounds 5 million to pounds 10 million.

These have included postage stamps, 900 boxes of toothpaste, 200 boxes of soap powder, 560,000 batteries and 72,100 DVDs and CDs containing films, games and music.

This year, he has been personally involved in organising one of the biggest investigations Sandwell has ever undertaken against counterfeiters operating in the West Midlands.

Working in partnership with ELSPA and FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft), four premises were raided and 20 people arrested, unearthing a morass of counterfeit goods and criminal activity.

In all, over 50,000 counterfeit discs, containing music, games or films and 16 computers have been seized, including a counterfeiting "factory" which was capable of making 200 copies an hour.

Mr Bright said: "I am proud to have won this award, which I could not have done without the support of all my colleagues and the people within the industry with whom we work so closely."

John Hillier, ELSPA anti-piracy unit manager, said: "John Bright, over the last 12 months, has constantly demonstrated his professionalism and excellent enforcement skills in tackling intellectual property crime in the games industry."

Bob Charnley, Sandwell's deputy trading standards manager, said: "John is a worthy winner and it is nice to see all his hard work, tenacity and persistence rewarded."

CAPTION(S):

NICE WORK... John Bright is congratulated by Coun Mahboob Hussain and John Hillier, of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.