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Online copyright infringement is a serious problem for the rights owners and for society as a whole. It deprives artists and creators of compensation for their work, and in the long run it may reduce the range of choices available to consumers.
Recognising this, the European Commission identified fighting this type of copyright infringement as one of the priorities in its IP Action Plan.
EUIPO has been studying copyright infringement for the past two years, and the new report is the third study undertaken in this workstream. This report examines the consumption of copyright-infringing content in the EU Member States and the UK for TV programmes, music, and film, using a variety of desktop and mobile access methods, including streaming, downloading, torrents and ripping software. The analysis is based on a rich set of data on access to websites offering pirated music, film and TV programmes in all 28 countries, between January 2017 and December 2020. The report’s main conclusion is that digital piracy is declining for all three types of content and that differences among the Member States can be explained by socio-economic factors such as income inequality and by awareness of legal offers among consumers.