A Bristol man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to a total of 23 offences relating to the possessing for sale of illegally copied games, counterfeit films, music and pornography on recordable discs. He also requested that a further 144 such offences be taken into consideration and was ordered to pay £12,000 towards prosecution costs. Gary Boulter, 51, of 15 Knapp Road, Thornbury, appeared before Bristol Crown Court on 26th August to be sentenced for offences under the Trade Marks Act (1994) and the Video Recordings Act (1984) as a result of a prosecution brought by South Gloucestershire Trading Standards. In addition to this, a confiscation order for £10,500 was made under the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002), requiring that the outstanding money be paid within six months or he would be ordered to serve a further nine months in prison.

Boulter was originally investigated by South Gloucestershire Trading Standards following a tip-off alleging that he was involved in running a copying factory from his premises. A warrant was subsequently executed in December 2005 involving Avon and Somerset Police, Trading Standards, ELSPA (the Entertainment & Leisure Publishers Association) undercover investigators and representatives of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which revealed that Boulter had an entire room set up for the purposes of copying games, film, music and pornography.

Several computers and copying equipment was seized, as well as over 2300 copied discs including PlayStation2 and Xbox games, feature films, music and pornographic films. In addition, nearly 500 blank DVD-R discs and 173 copied inlays were removed.

The legitimate market value of the detained games, films and music is estimated to be in excess of £50,000.

In passing sentence, Judge Darwall-Smith commented that Boulter’s operation was a large commercial venture and that the illegal use of trademarks in the way he did debases the industries affected.