Measuring the Scope, Size and Impact of Intellectual Property Crime in the EU

Whilst many violent crimes against individuals are hitting the daily headlines, there are other types of criminal activity that affect our daily lives more than we may realise. One of those crimes is the violation of intellectual property rights (IPRs), namely through counterfeiting and piracy.

Counterfeiting can be understood as the production of fake or forged goods, while piracy may be thought of as infringement of copyright. Examples of counterfeited products include medicines, spare vehicle and airplane parts and luxury goods, while popular forms of piracy include illegal downloading and illegally copied DVDs and CDs. With the trend of globalisation and the integration of markets in recent decades, estimates suggest the markets for counterfeited and pirated products have grown eight times faster than those of legitimate trade since 1990. Given the estimated size of these markets, representing around 5-7% of world trade, this has potentially serious economic, social and health impacts to individuals and businesses across the globe.

Goals

Quantifying the extent of IPR violations is the focus of a RAND Europe study bringing together an international team of economists, criminologists, policy analysts and IPR legal experts. Measuring the extent of counterfeiting and piracy is challenging and there are limitations to current estimates of the size and impact of these practices throughout the European Union.

RAND Europe has been commissioned by the European Commission, DG Internal Market & Services, to consider the current levels of counterfeiting and piracy trade in the EU; the nature in which these goods enter and exit the EU marketplace; and the social and economic implications of IPR violations. The RAND researchers will review estimates and methodologies in existing literature, and develop and apply a robust and objective methodology to quantify the scope, size and impacts of counterfeiting and piracy in the EU, which can be reproduced in subsequent years.

Stijn Hoorens
Priscillia Hunt
Alessandro Malchiodi
Rosalie Pacula
Srikanth Kadiyala