The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has launched a public awareness campaign, warning the public about the risks and damages o

EU Warns People About the Risks and Damages of Piracy

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2021-06-09 18:30:02

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has launched a public awareness campaign, warning the public about the risks and damages of piracy. The campaign warns that people who pirate content or buy counterfeit goods put their health, safety, money, and privacy at risk. At the same time, people help fund organized crime including drug and human trafficking.

According to the European Union, intellectual property infringement is a serious problem that poses significant risks to the public at large.

As other reports have done in the past, EUIPO bundles counterfeiting and piracy in the same breath. This makes sense to a degree, as both are related to intellectual property, but the risks involved can be quite different.

People who buy counterfeit medicines, such as antibiotics, painkillers, or Covid-vaccines, are directly putting their health at risk. Those who use a stream-ripping tool to download music from YouTube mostly upset the major music labels.

This distinction is notably absent from EUIPO’s media campaign which stresses that piracy is a serious problem. It highlights, for example, that pirate IPTV subscriptions alone are good for a billion euros in illegal proceeds every year.