Four out of five Europeans agree that counterfeits support criminal organisations and ruin businesses and jobs, while two-thirds consider fakes a threat to health, safety and the environment.

But one third of Europeans (and half of young people) say it is acceptable to buy fakes when the price of the genuine product is too high.

These are among the findings of the latest study on the perception of EU citizens towards intellectual property, published today by EUIPO. The study is based on 25,824 online interviews across all EU Member States.

Other findings include:

• 4 in 10 consumers were unsure if a product was genuine or not, while 13% report having bought fakes intentionally.
• 14% of Europeans admit to having accessed content illegally, especially to watch sports. This rises to one third in the case of young people.
• 43% of Europeans have paid to access content from a legal source in the past year.

The proportion of consumers that have intentionally purchased fakes varies from 24% in Bulgaria to 8% in Finland. While around a quarter of consumers in Denmark and the Netherlands (26%) have been unsure whether what they bought was genuine or not, the figure in Romania is 72%.

The full study, along with executive summaries, infographics and videos, is available on the EUIPO website: European Citizens and Intellectual Property: Perception, Awareness and Behaviour. The chart above is taken from the executive summary.

EUIPO has previously published studies on the same topic in 2013, 2017 and 2020.