The winner of the 2nd Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) award has been announced at the Europol Intellectual Property Crime conference in Malaga.
The presentation to Chief Inspector Monica Dopico and the IP Crime Section of the Spanish National Police recognises the success of the National Police in fighting audiovisual piracy as organised crime and the contribution made to raising awareness of the crime through participation in conferences and workshops.
AAPA also presented a special award to Chris van Steenkiste, Head of Europol IPC3, for his outstanding efforts in the fight against piracy.
Announcing the awards Sheila Cassells, Executive Director of AAPA, said: “AAPA believes it is important to acknowledge the commitment on law enforcement agents and others in the public sector to fighting audiovisual piracy. This second award represents a clean sweep for the Spanish Police who also won last year and we hope this will encourage others to follow. Monica has brought an essential organised crime approach to piracy cases, which can often be seen as a lesser crime of copyright theft. Monica’s willingness to spread the message about the need for and how to fight this crime through participation in external events has been invaluable”.
Phillip Davies, VP of AAPA and Director of Fraud and Anti-Piracy at Sky UK and Ireland, who presented the award added: “The commitment of Chris van Steenkiste to IP crime generally and audiovisual piracy in particular cannot be underestimated. Under his leadership Europol has an established team with the enthusiasm, skills and expertise to coordinate Member States’ operations on piracy and we hope that will continue.”
AAPA represents companies involved in the provision of protected audiovisual services, rights holders, security technology, and product manufacturing.
