The public foots much of the bill when the entertainment and software cartels go on anti-counterfeit rampages, their targets often including their own customers.
It’s now routine, for example, for law enforcement and other tax-payer funded agencies to be used in various corporate national and international ‘operations,’ and for elected politicians to provide loud support.

Now, in Britain, “The most costly criminal case clocked up legal aid fees of £18.4m (about $34,714,108),” says the Guardian Online.

The case? Operation Blossom, “a prosecution of six men on charges of international software piracy,” says the story.

And, “legal aid payments to the defence team,” added on more than £19 million.
“Fifteen barristers were paid for working on the piracy case,” states the Guardian Online. “Their full fees are not stated but three received brief fees of £450,000 (about $848,188) or more for preparing the case.”
Via p2pnet.net