PIPCU Uses UK IPO’s ‘Surplus Millions’ to Wage War on IPTV Pirates

City of London Police formed the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit over a decade ago. Since then, the specialist anti-piracy unit has targeted pirates of all kinds. The Intellectual Property Office's latest Report and Accounts states that PIPCU is funded using millions of pounds from 'IPO surpluses.' That money appears to have been put to work; PIPCU reports reveal successes against large-scale IPTV pirates and in one case, a record-breaking restraint of ill-gotten gains.

The latest wave of the UK government’s Copyright Infringement Tracker study was expected a year ago. There’s still no indication when it will arrive, or even if it will arrive at all, a shame considering interest generated by previous reports.

That said, the first three weeks of 2025 has seen the publication of other IP-focused reports, including the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) 2022/23 Report and Accounts and its Innovation and Growth Report 2023/24.

Neither provide fuel for our reporting niche quite like the Infringement Tracker, but one interesting nugget concerning the funding of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) warranted a closer look.

IPO’s ‘Surplus’ Millions Fund PIPCU

The IPO’s publicatiob notes that BEIS, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, ” can utilize IPO surpluses through taking additional dividends and currently does so to fund other IP related initiatives.”

The report states that the arrangement covers PIPCU’s funding requirements, as shown in the extract below.

While BEIS no longer exists, having been replaced by three new departments in 2023, PIPCU’s funding arrangement seems unchanged. City of London Police currently lists the IPO as PIPCU’s funding provider, with an annual figure of £2,053,000.

Whether that figure covers all operational costs is unclear. PIPCU launched in 2013 with annual funding of £2.56 million, with an increase to £3.39 million reported in 2019. Since City of London Police can generate income through commercial partnerships, charging for services, and recovery through the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), additional funding may be available from elsewhere (pdf).

With fraud online now at record highs, City of London Police as a whole is clearly busy. On the IP crime front lines specifically, PIPCU may be busier that its intermittent press releases seem to suggest.

PIPCU Fights Fraud First, Pirates Handled Later

Details of some PIPCU activities appear in several official reports; the National Lead Force Performance Report, and the Economic & Cyber Crime Committee’s Communications & Strategic Engagement report, for example.

From the volumes reported, tackling online scams and insurance fraud consumes significant resources at City of London Police. At least in public reporting, tackling online piracy seems to receive less attention. However, when police engage the public on issues that include piracy, a dedicated social media team monitors for engagement and the results are reported accordingly.

One example featured an appearance in the media, which aimed to highlight the dangers of illegal streaming in support of a “partner agency.”

“DCI Gary Robinson was quoted in ITV News, Independent, Express, The Sun, Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Mail, Metro, LADbible and several others after [City of London Police] contributed to a partner agency’s press announcement on the risks associated with using illegal streaming services,” a Communications & Strategic Engagement update notes.

The ‘partner agency’ goes unnamed but ‘Federation Against Copyright Theft’ seems a perfect fit for the scenario. It may also go some way towards explaining the sudden and massive interest in piracy over the past couple of years, much of it on display in the publications mentioned above.

Police Authority Board – Commissioner’s Update Reports

A subsequent Commissioner’s Update Report reveals significant action against a pirate IPTV provider. While there are similarities with reported events, we can’t be 100% sure which case this refers to, and the same goes for the other cases mentioned below. There’s no doubting their importance, however.

“The team took down a very large Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) provider alongside partners at Sky TV. This was one of the UK’s biggest illegal streaming operations,” the statement reads.

“Losses to the TV broadcaster will be counted in the millions of pounds. Over two operations there have been three arrests and large data capacity servers seized.”

A similar update three months later notes that “PIPCU attended a EUROPOL conference in Romania to discuss joint Investigations/operations against criminal activities concerning IPTV” and other illegal streaming.

“PIPCU advised on how European law enforcement authorities can enhance their response against the threat of illegal television streaming networks and to identify and tackle Organized Crime Groups behind this criminality.”

Further Updates on Pirate IPTV Cases

Subsequent reports provide additional information on what appears to be the same case. There’s no additional information available beyond the following quotes, but the combination of details sound very familiar.

“[The case is an] investigation into illegal IPTV streaming involving the top tier, which includes a father and son and an in- law. Similarly, the suspected benefit figure runs over £4m with a restraint order of £1.68m. There are 86 accounts so far identified.”

“Op Talos – Very large Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) illegal TV streaming and money laundering – Final restraint figure now confirmed at £1.6m, this is the biggest restraint in PIPCU’s 10 year history”

In addition to [Op]eration Talos, PIPCU also mentioned [Op]eration Delaware, which reportedly targeted what was “believed to be the UK’s largest Illegal streaming service causing losses to the industry of £17 million a year.”

This illegal TV network “had millions of global users,” the report concludes.

In another PIPCU case, the restraint and confiscation of £186,182, relating to the sale of ‘counterfeit IPTV set-top boxes’, sits among others in the shade of the cases detailed above. Nevertheless, it still carries value as a potential source of additional funding, on top of any surplus cash supplied by the Intellectual Property Office.

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