L 136/88
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
24.5.2023
(31)
Other market players such as providers of advertising, as well as payment services providers, through their obligations under the EU anti-money laundering framework and voluntary actions, can also contribute to the fight against online piracy.
To demonetise piracy services, the Commission is facilitating a memorandum of understanding on online advertising and intellectual property rights.
Signatories of that memorandum voluntarily commit to minimise the placement of advertising on websites and mobile applications that infringe intellectual property rights, including copyright.
Such cooperation should be further encouraged to make sure that such services do not facilitate the promotion and functioning of operators giving access to unauthorised retransmission of live events.
(32)
In order to address piracy in a holistic manner, it is important to increase the availability, affordability, and attractiveness of commercial offers for end users to access transmission or retransmissions of live events.
As concerns events of major importance for society such as Olympic Games, the Football World Cup or the European Football Championship, Member States may ensure wide access by the public to television coverage in line with Article 14 of the Directive 2010/13/EU.
(33)
Furthermore, according to a recent study, the accessibility and availability of competitively priced legal offers has resulted in a slight decrease in the number of users consuming pirated content (12).
It is therefore important to raise end users’ awareness about the availability of legal offer.
For example, certain Member States ensure that when a website is blocked pursuant to an injunction, users that try to access it are informed about the blocking and are given information on the sources where the content can be accessed legally.
This can be done for instance by referring to the European online content portal, Agorateka, developed by the EUIPO Observatory, which links to existing national portals.
(34)
Cross-border cooperation between Member States is important to better tackle the phenomenon of unauthorised retransmissions of live events, which by nature take place across borders.
The exchange of information on services that are subject to an injunction in one Member State can be helpful to inform the enforcement authorities in other Member States where the same services are available.
(35)
The EUIPO Observatory is entrusted by Regulation (EU) No 386/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13) to provide mechanisms which help to improve the exchange of information on enforcement of intellectual property rights between Member States authorities and to foster cooperation with and between those authorities.
The existing cooperation facilitated by the EUIPO Observatory on these matters should develop into a dedicated network for Member States to structurally exchange information on measures, procedures and remedies applied to unauthorised retransmissions of sports and other live events, including on the impact and efficiency of those enforcement tools, and on the challenges and good practices in that field.
The network should allow the dialogue across all Member States and include the administrative authorities with specific powers in relation to enforcement of intellectual property rights that exist in certain Member States.
The information gathered under the network should contribute to the monitoring of the effects of the recommendation.
(36)
Enhancing the expertise of persons involved in the enforcement of rights against unauthorised retransmissions of live events by appropriate training measures constitutes another way to achieve more efficient enforcement.
The EUIPO Observatory should be encouraged to develop and organise knowledge building activities for national judges and national authorities in this specific area.
(37)
The Commission will closely monitor the actions taken in light of this Recommendation, with the support of the EUIPO Observatory, which should provide technical expertise and organisational support as well as monitor the evolution of unauthorised retransmission of live events in Member States.
In order to carry out this task, it is essential that Member States and stakeholders share relevant information about the follow-up given to this
(12) Intellectual Property Crime Threat Assessment, EUIPO and Europol, March 2022.
(13) Regulation (EU) No 386/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 April 2012 on entrusting the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) with tasks related to the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including the assembling of public and private-sector representatives as a European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (OJ L 129, 16.5.2012, p. 1).