The third edition of the IP perception study has been published by the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

The study has several positive findings for IP-owning businesses, compared to the previous study in 2017, including:

• The proportion of people who think IP benefits artists and creators has doubled from 10% to 20%
• The proportion of people who intentionally bought counterfeits fell from 7% to 5% and the corresponding numbers for intentional piracy fell from 10% to 8%
• The proportion of people misled into buying counterfeit goods fell from 10% to 9%
• More people wondered whether the product they bought was original or not (37% compared to 33%)
• The number who think that buying counterfeit products could harm their image increased form 12% to 17%
• People are more willing to pay for content (69% compared to 25%)
• More people are researching whether websites offer legal content or not (20% compared to 14%)

The Executive Summary states that the study “shows a gradual but encouraging change in understanding and attitudes”. It speculates that the more negative perception of counterfeits may have been reinforced by the public backlash against fake medicines and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 crisis.

Young people continue to be the biggest group that buy counterfeits and download illegally. The report says: “There is more work to be done here, especially since this group comprise the heaviest users of the internet.” However, it adds, that people are more willing to pay for legal content online particularly if it is available at a reasonable price.

The study involved interviewing 25,636 EU residents aged 15 and above. At least 1,000 interviews were conducted in 24 of the 27 countries, and at least 500 in Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta.

For more information, you can download the following:

Executive summary (English)

Full report (English)

Resources including summary, press release and infographics (all EU languages)