G8 leaders meeting this week in Hokkaido, Japan, will ratify an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) which would give customs officials the right to search laptops or iPods for illegally obtained music.

One of the provisions of Acta states: "Members shall provide for the provisions related to criminal enforcement and border measures to be applied at least in cases of trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy."

This could be interpreted as meaning that individuals could be asked about content such as music and films on their MP3 players or portable computers.

However, it is more likely that the new act will be used to tackle wholesale counterfeiters.

According to the UK Electronics Alliance, counterfeiting costs the UK economy about £1bn a year, yet there are only two full-time customs officials employed to track down fake goods.

This week, the EU moved a step closer to ratifying a law that could see people who download illegally barred from the internet.

Closer to home, Virgin Media, in conjunction with the BPI, an organisation which represents the music industry, recently sent warning letters to 800 customers informing them that their network is being used to download content illegally.

www.g8summit.go.jp/eng

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