According to a recent report by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the extent of online piracy in the EU is dropping year after year. Poles have special reasons to be proud in this regard since the survey reveals that we are the least likely of all EU nationals to utilize unlawful content.
The regular EU Internet user viewed copyright-infringing content 5.9 times per month in 2020. Users from Poland did this 3.8 times each month on average. Aside from Poland, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom all ranked lower than the EU average.
Piracy and copyright infringement in Poland
Piracy is a colloquial term for actions of copyright infringement, such as illegally copying or utilizing the works of others without their permission or payment of proper payments. However, if the action in issue is authorized under the current laws, it will not be considered piracy.
The majority of online piracy in the European Union is illicit content streaming, accounting for more than 80% of illicit online activity among EU residents in 2020. Other types of piracy include illegal downloading of protected works, stream-ripping (the method most commonly used in the case of music, which consists in creating unauthorized copies of songs legally available via streaming), and torrent, which is the concurrent downloading and transferring of data over a peer-to-peer network (“everyone with everyone”). When we use the torrent network, we face the most serious repercussions – the unlawful distribution of the work that occurs during the download is a crime punishable by a fine, a punishment of limitation of freedom, or imprisonment for up to two years.
Illegal access to TV networks accounts for 70% of internet piracy in the European Union, with pirated films accounting for 20% and music accounting for 10%.
One of the basic objectives of the system of protection of economic copyrights and related rights, according to the so-called welfare theory, which the Office refers to in the report, is to provide appropriate encouragement, an incentive that induces creators and performers to engage in creative activity. This incentive takes the form, first and foremost, of economic copyrights, which allow writers, producers, and performers to be compensated for the use of their intellectual property. Taking film as an example, this might include receiving compensation for, among other activities, cinema screenings, Internet streaming, or multiplication for the purpose of selling DVDs containing a certain film.
The emphasis of the system so envisioned remains on the whole society – its enrichment and growth via the continual advancement of culture and technology, which consists of the creative efforts of individuals. The goal is therefore to correctly balance the interests of creators and society, i.e. to offer such an incentive structure that will assure the optimal level of creative activity while retaining broad public access to its outputs and the potential of expanding on prior successes.
The basic negative impact of piracy, according to the aforementioned model, is that artists are deprived of their payment, which, together with the need for self-realization, expression, or acknowledgment, is one of the most essential stimulants stimulating creative impulse in society.
There is no doubt that some traditional forms of utilizing music works are currently in crisis – for example, in comparison to the previous century, there has been a significant decrease in the sales results of music albums, which was reflected, among other things, in the reduction in the number of units that must be sold in order to receive a platinum or gold certification. In the past, a national artist had to sell up to 200,000 records, but now merely 30,000, a quarter of the prior figure, is sufficient.
This is undoubtedly tied to modern, digital methods of utilizing music works. We are only a few mouse clicks away from accessing practically any song now that the internet has expanded over the world.
While it may be illegal, easy access to songs via the Internet has numerous advantages, including the elimination of location barriers to accessing culture, which residents of smaller cities face on a daily basis, and which we all witnessed firsthand when cinemas, theaters, and museums were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the most recent study reveals that there are some grounds to be optimistic: the amount of unlawful content consumed in the EU is steadily declining. The declining trend has also been maintained during the pandemic, with the exception of a brief rise in film piracy in spring 2020.
You can find the list of Poland IP Firms here.