EUIPO's New Study on European Citizens and Intellectual Property

Today's globalized and innovation-driven economy faces a serious and growing challenge from the illegal trade in counterfeit goods. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has recently published a study “European Citizens and Intellectual Property: Perception, Awareness and Behaviour” which is also known as “IP Perception” study.

The main purpose of this study is to gather information on European consumers' attitudes regarding intellectual property (IP), their level of respect for these rights, and their overall understanding of IP.

According to the report, a large majority of Europeans say that they have a rather good or very good understanding of the concept of IP, and there is a clear consensus on the importance of respecting IP to protect the rights and income of producers of goods and content, as well as the quality of their products.

The report also finds that Europeans are generally aware of the harmful consequences of counterfeit goods and, mostly, reject justifications for purchasing such products. Younger people, on the other hand, are more amenable to this, particularly for financial reasons.