EUIPO has recently unveiled the report Online Copyright Infringement in the EU: Film, Music and TV, based on an analysis of the 30 most frequently pirated creative works in each of the EU Member States, including 316 films, 500 music artists and 309 TV series. The study finds that piracy mainly affects creative works recently produced and released.

In the case of film, piracy is suffered mainly by films that were commercially successful in cinemas with wide international distribution. Piracy of films from US, UK, France and Italy represents 96 % of film piracy in the EU. Another piracy pattern affects films that were successful in the producing country and that did not enjoy a wide international distribution. In this case, most of the piracy occurred in countries where the films were not released. Piracy of films from Canada, Australia, China, Finland, Germany, India and Russia represents 2.8 % of film piracy and 1.8 % of admissions in EU cinemas. Also, piracy was concentrated in new releases: films produced before 2017 suffered 58 % less piracy than 2017 productions.

TV series are the most frequently pirated creative works but the link between piracy and popularity is more difficult to ascertain, as is also the case for music.

The study also looks at the tastes of consumers of pirated content across the EU showing a high degree of homogeneity among the Member States, especially for film. The list of the top 30 most pirated film in each Member State is similar to the top 30 list for the EU as a whole. This is less so for TV series and music, where the tastes of pirated content vary significantly across the Member States.

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ECTA Copyright Committee is strongly involved in copyright-related matters. If you are interested and would like to join our Copyright Committee, do not miss the General Committee Elections coming up in January 2021.