In 2018 the EUIPO Observatory commissioned a research study on IPTV crime in Europe to the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) of Bournemouth University. The research was done by a team of researchers in law, economics and computer science, assisted by an expert group including rights holders, law enforcement representatives, regulatory authorities, civil society groups and digital security companies. It aimed to enhance the level of understanding about the ways illegal Internet protocol television (IPTV) is carried out and focused on the question how the business models around this phenomenon work in order to better address this challenge.

This interdisciplinary study reviews the existing literature, the legislative framework and case-law in the EU and provides structural analysis of existing business models with regard to unauthorised delivery of television content over the Internet as well as the first assessment results of the magnitude of illegal PTV across the EU in terms of active users and unlawful revenue obtained from infringing activities.
The report ‘Illegal IPTV in the EU’ is available HERE.

Nathan Wajsman, Francisco García-Valero and Altair Breckwoldt Jurado, authors of the study ‘Online Copyright Infringement in the European Union – a Music, Films and TV (2017-2018), Trends and Drivers’, examined the consumption of copyright-infringing content in the 28 EU Member States, 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 set of data on access to pirated music, film and TV programmes in all 28 Member States, for the period from January 2017 to September 2018, covering both fixed and mobile devices as well as the main access methods: streaming, downloads, torrents and stream ripping.

A follow-up study is planned for 2020, it will focus on the consumption of individual pirated film titles in all 28 Member States, possibly compared to legitimate consumption of the corresponding content (e.g. box office revenues).
The full report and the executive summaries are available on the website of the Observatory HERE.