How do counterfeiting and piracy affect the EU?
First, counterfeiting and piracy are detrimental to innovation, directly affecting job creation and economic growth. Industries protect their ideas through a variety of legal instruments such as patents, copyrights, designs, models and trademarks. Without the protection of their intellectual property rights, they are less inclined to develop new ideas and products. Risks are particularly high for industries in which the research and development costs are high compared to the production costs of the finalised product (eg pharmaceuticals). Faced with a diminishing turnover in the face of counterfeiting and piracy, industry innovation is set to slow down. This would limit development, growth and competitiveness, forcing them to simply close down or limit production. Second, counterfeiting and piracy harm consumers. While some consumers are looking for what they believe to be bargains, knowingly buying counterfeit and pirated products, others may purchase counterfeit and pirated products b
