DigitalES, an association that brings together leading telecommunications, technology, and digital transformation companies in Spain, has created together with other organizations the "Alliance for Creation," a multisectoral initiative within CEOE that promotes a coordinated response to piracy and reinforces the protection of intellectual property in Spain, within the framework of World Intellectual Property Day.
Systemic threat to the digital economy
From DigitalES they warn that piracy is not only an infringement of intellectual property rights, but that it curbs investment, discourages innovation, and weakens the economic sustainability of the audiovisual ecosystem.
According to the latest report from the Coalition of Creators and Content Industries, Spain registers more than 7.3 billion illegal accesses to cultural and audiovisual content per year, with a damage exceeding 3 billion euros for the industry and a negative impact of 366 million in lost tax revenue. In terms of employment, the effect is equivalent to more than 188,000 jobs.
This data affects all digital content, especially live broadcasts, such as sports content and movie premieres, as well as digital books. 37% of Spaniards admit to having accessed digital books illegally, which amounts to 675 million illicit accesses, while seven out of ten digital readings are carried out through illegal channels.
Spain is also the third country in the European Union with the highest level of sports piracy: 19% of the population accesses illegal broadcasts, compared to the European average of 12%. Among young people aged 15 to 24, the figure rises to 42%, practically double the European average, which stands at 27%.
Five priorities to strengthen the fight against piracy
DigitalES maintains that the current regulation is insufficient in the face of increasingly sophisticated evasion techniques and proposes five priority areas of action.
First, it demands reviewing and streamlining the regulatory framework to allow immediate cuts of access to illicit content and facilitate precautionary measures that enable the preventive blocking of sites, applications, and channels under judicial investigation.
It also advocates for advancing in agile and proportionate blocking mechanisms, especially for live content, where speed is crucial for the effectiveness of measures.
The employers' association considers it necessary to extend responsibility beyond internet access operators, who currently exclusively bear the technical and human costs of the fight against piracy, and proposes creating cost-sharing schemes and enabling public aid.
Likewise, it underlines the importance of involving all technological intermediaries, such as search engines, social networks, messaging services, payment platforms, and hosting providers, whose collaboration is key to making judicial rulings effective.
Lastly, it proposes reinforcing public-private collaboration by promoting the Protocol for the Reinforcement of the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, launched in 2021 together with the Creators Coalition and the Ministry of Culture, and which has made it possible to block numerous infringing domains.
“Fighting piracy requires a comprehensive approach, multidisciplinary and sustained over time, which combines technology, regulation, co-responsibility among actors and institutional drive. Spain has advanced a lot, but we need much more effort,” stated DigitalES General Director, Miguel Sánchez Galindo.