The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is a trade organisation in the UK established to represent the interests of the its members in the film and broadcasting business on copyright and trademark issues. Established in 1983, FACT works with law enforcement agencies on copyright-infringement issues. Its sister-organisation the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft has a similar focus in the Oceania Region, taking over the responsibilities of the Australasian Film and Video Security Office in the early 2000s.
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In 2007 FACT reported seizing over 2.8m pirate DVDs and states it has "enhanced its enforcement capabilities against those involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of copyright material both online and in hard copy format".
Also in 2007, FACT, in collaboration with UK police, took down well known hot-linking site Tv-links.co.uk. FACT makes the claim that the 26 year old man from Cheltenham was arrested in connection with offences relating to the facilitation of copyright infringement on the internet[1] whereas the arrest was over a matter of possible trademark infringement.[2] While arrested under Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 he has now been released 'pending further investigation' with no charges filed against him as of 25 October.[2][3] Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 deals with falsely applying signs to goods that may be mistaken for a registered trademark.
In June 2009, FACT brought a lawsuit against the company Scopelight and its founders for running a video search engine called Surfthechannel.com. The organisation accompanied a police raid on the Scopelights owners homes, they collaborated with the police in the initial investigation and they allowed FACT employee's to inspect confiscated computers and the information on them. After a few months the police decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute the owners for criminal charges. Scopelight's owners requested their property back to which FACT refused claiming they were holding onto the equipment to be used for a civil case against the owners. The issue was brought to court and it was ruled that FACT's actions were improper and the equipment should have been returned the moment police decided not to prosecute the owners of Scopelight.[4]
FACT has produced several adverts which have appeared at the beginning of videos and DVDs released in the UK, as well as trailers shown before films in cinemas.
During the 1990s, FACT created a 30 second anti-piracy warning called "Beware of Illegal Video Cassettes", reminding customers to check whether they have a genuine video and how to report questionable copies. They appeared on many different video cassettes by home video companies including Columbia-TriStar Home Video, Buena Vista Home Video, CIC Video (and its successor, Paramount Home Entertainment), Warner Home Video, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and others. Versions for each studio depicting their respective security label (generally a hologram of the studio logo) were created, and the warning was placed at the beginning of practically every rental released VHS tape in the UK (as well as many retail tapes), analogous to the FBI Warning found on tapes in the United States. Since late 1996, this warning was followed by a public information film featuring a man attempting to return a pirate video purchased from a market after discovering that the sound was garbled and the picture unwatchable, ending with the tagline "Pirate Videos: Daylight Robbery." The public information film has been parodied by certain websites and can be seen online.
With the advent of DVD, FACT developed a new anti piracy spot, which concentrated more on copyright infringement through peer-to-peer filesharing and less on counterfeit copies. The spot related the peer-to-peer file sharing of movies to stealing a handbag, a car, and other such items (similar to the US FAST "Piracy is theft" slogan of the 1990s). This was parodied in an episode of The IT Crowd [5]
The advert has been criticised by the general public and TV personalities alike: the most common complaint being that the advert only appears on genuinely purchased DVDs and cannot be skipped by fast forwarding or pressing the DVD menu button.[6] More recent spots have included Knock-off Nigel, where a man is ridiculed by his friends and colleagues for buying counterfeit DVDs and downloading films from Bit Torrent along with ads that say "Thank You" to the British public for supporting the film industry by either buying a ticket and seeing a film in the cinema or purchasing a genuine DVD/ Blu-ray.