Research and Studies

There were numerous research works conducted on intellectual property and infringements of intellectual property rights, as well as detrimental consequences caused by infringements of these rights to various branches of industry and entire economy, and the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights at EUIPO published, independently or in cooperation with other authorities, a number of studies dealing with these issues.

The study titled Intellectual Property Rights Intensive Industries and Economic Performance in the European Union stands out as particularly noteworthy. The study shows that intellectual property rights intensive industries accounted for 45% of economic output, 29.2% of employment in the European Union in total and indicate that these industries are integral to GDP, employment and trade; furthermore, they account for most of the EU’s trade with the rest of the world thus generating a trade surplus. These industries employ 63 million citizens of the European Union.

The next particularly noteworthy study is titled European Citizens and Intellectual Property: Perception, Awareness and Behaviour dealing with perception of intellectual property by citizens of the European Union and their attitudes and habits towards copyright-protected content and other subject matter of protection.

In June 2020, the report was published by EUIPO and Europol titled “Intellectual Property Crime and Its Link to Other Serious Crimes“, with the aim to inform law enforcement officials and policy makers about the various ways in which intellectual property crime is linked to other forms of criminal activity.

A range of studies was published on the issue of counterfeiting and piracy in individual industry sectors facing these problems. Reports are focused on actual financial losses incurred to these sectors, additionally expressed through job losses in the European Union and reductions of expected revenues. The aforementioned studies, and a number of other studies prepared by the EUIPO, are available at the following link.