Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 1:53:03 GMT -5
José Antonio Suárez , partner of counsel in intellectual, industrial property and audiovisual law at ECIJA, is one of the pioneers in the development of this practice in our country. Throughout these years he has specialized in audiovisual contracting and intellectual property for production and distribution companies, broadcasting entities, Spanish and foreign trade union entities and Spanish and international public organizations. In his opinion, “ with the pandemic, the use and abuse of illicit digital content skyrocketed .”
José Antonio Suárez, partner of counsel in intellectual and industrial property and audiovisual law at ECIJA. (Photo: ECIJA)
This lawyer relates that “the pandemic arrived and the rise in the consumption of these illegal contents skyrocketed due to the situation of isolation that we experienced for Fax Lists many months. At this time the trend has picked up again due to the incidence of sporting events indicated by the EUIPO. With the pay-per-view of these sporting events, piracy has grown. There are events almost every day and the increase in supply encourages fraud to grow in terms of the consumption of that content.”
Regarding the impact of the new Digital Services Law , in which large service providers are expected to work to stop all this illicit content, Suárez is not too optimistic . “I am skeptical about its results. Of course, I think it will better regulate the audiovisual market. However, despite this regulation, there will continue to be groups that will remain out of the market in order to continue promoting illicit content . Although access to legal content has an economic component, there are still thousands of content accessible on the Internet for free and illegally.”
In the Spanish case, this jurist highlights regarding this audiovisual piracy that the incidence in Italy is lower than in our country, where the level of existing fraud remains worrying. “ It's not just intellectual property fraud, but also tax fraud . There is a lot of money that is lost due to VAT. We will have to see the impact of Miquel Iceta 's [Minister of Culture] cultural bonus in Spain, but I don't think it will be a big deal because the majority of these young people were already consuming content legally in recent years,” he says.
Regarding the solution to the problem, Suárez emphasizes that “ this is a cultural problem that must be fought at school by teaching the youngest the values of intellectual property and respect for others. In the end, the phenomenon of piracy affects creators throughout Europe, some of them with limited economic capacity. We have to work more on awareness and training.”
In his opinion, “ the fight against piracy requires a certain financial capacity to have the means to stop this scourge .” The second section of the Intellectual Property Commission should have a decent financial allocation to carry out its work of blocking pirate websites. In the United States there is the Copyright Office and it has a court for small claims and it is functioning. But above all, we must focus on culture and training, which is essential to form responsible consumers .”
Regarding the future, José Antonio Suárez sees a dark outlook regarding the phenomenon of digital piracy. “A cultural change is urgently needed in Europe. Above all, we must keep in mind that the prices have not been set by the industries, but rather by the pirate platforms themselves. It has been the great defeat of the cultural world . In fact, cultural industries have taken a long time to enter because their business model was at significant risk. During the year, piracy has been financing the terrorist activities of jihadism,” says Suárez.
José Antonio Suárez, partner of counsel in intellectual and industrial property and audiovisual law at ECIJA. (Photo: ECIJA)
This lawyer relates that “the pandemic arrived and the rise in the consumption of these illegal contents skyrocketed due to the situation of isolation that we experienced for Fax Lists many months. At this time the trend has picked up again due to the incidence of sporting events indicated by the EUIPO. With the pay-per-view of these sporting events, piracy has grown. There are events almost every day and the increase in supply encourages fraud to grow in terms of the consumption of that content.”
Regarding the impact of the new Digital Services Law , in which large service providers are expected to work to stop all this illicit content, Suárez is not too optimistic . “I am skeptical about its results. Of course, I think it will better regulate the audiovisual market. However, despite this regulation, there will continue to be groups that will remain out of the market in order to continue promoting illicit content . Although access to legal content has an economic component, there are still thousands of content accessible on the Internet for free and illegally.”
In the Spanish case, this jurist highlights regarding this audiovisual piracy that the incidence in Italy is lower than in our country, where the level of existing fraud remains worrying. “ It's not just intellectual property fraud, but also tax fraud . There is a lot of money that is lost due to VAT. We will have to see the impact of Miquel Iceta 's [Minister of Culture] cultural bonus in Spain, but I don't think it will be a big deal because the majority of these young people were already consuming content legally in recent years,” he says.
Regarding the solution to the problem, Suárez emphasizes that “ this is a cultural problem that must be fought at school by teaching the youngest the values of intellectual property and respect for others. In the end, the phenomenon of piracy affects creators throughout Europe, some of them with limited economic capacity. We have to work more on awareness and training.”
In his opinion, “ the fight against piracy requires a certain financial capacity to have the means to stop this scourge .” The second section of the Intellectual Property Commission should have a decent financial allocation to carry out its work of blocking pirate websites. In the United States there is the Copyright Office and it has a court for small claims and it is functioning. But above all, we must focus on culture and training, which is essential to form responsible consumers .”
Regarding the future, José Antonio Suárez sees a dark outlook regarding the phenomenon of digital piracy. “A cultural change is urgently needed in Europe. Above all, we must keep in mind that the prices have not been set by the industries, but rather by the pirate platforms themselves. It has been the great defeat of the cultural world . In fact, cultural industries have taken a long time to enter because their business model was at significant risk. During the year, piracy has been financing the terrorist activities of jihadism,” says Suárez.