On the occasion of World Anti-Counterfeiting Day, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is releasing its Intellectual Property Perception Study 2023. For the study more than 25,000 interviews were conducted, questioning Europeans on their knowledge of and attitudes towards the concept of intellectual property. As a member of the EUIPO Observatory, the European Consumer Centres Network consulted in this study at various stages.
Main conclusions:
- A clear majority of Europeans (83%) indicates they have a good or very good understanding of what the concept of ‘intellectual property’ means. A large majority agrees on the importance of respecting intellectual property law, mainly as this is important to protect the rights and income of inventors, publishers, creators and artists (93%).
- Most Europeans are aware buying counterfeit goods can have negative effects and reject justifications for buying counterfeit goods. Most consumers see the purchase of these goods as supporting unethical behaviour (83%) and criminal organisations (80%). Fewer respondents agree that counterfeit goods pose a threat to health and safety (66%).
- Results show that Europeans are very open to the use of legal offers of digital content. 80% of Europeans indicate they prefer legal sources to illegal alternatives, provided an affordable legal option is available. Awareness of legal online offers is also high: 9 in 10 are aware of at least one type of legal content offer available in their country.
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