The Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports announced that its “Protocol for the Strengthening of the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights” (“Protocolo para el refuerzo de la protección de los derechos de propiedad intelectual”), adopted formally in April 2021 with Internet access providers and content creators, has had tangible results.
According to a January news release, “A total of 172 Internet domains and 697 subdomains have been blocked in 2021 to prevent illegal access to millions of works (books, musical or audiovisual works, video games…) protected by intellectual property rights.”
In 2021, the Technical Committee representing the parties to the Protocol has submitted 32 consultations, almost always on a weekly basis, and has accurately and consistently complied with the submission requirements. The response from the Ministry of Culture and Sports has always been less than 72 hours (in the last three months there have been many occasions in which the 36-hour deadline for issuing the proposal has not been exceeded).
Read the news release (Auto-translated from Spanish to English by Google Translate)
Read the Protocol (In Spanish)
Read Piracy Monitor’s article about the Protocol published in July 2021
Why it matters
According to the news release, the anti-piracy protocol “has been a milestone in signing the protection of intellectual property and the fight against illegal supply as an objective of understanding and collaboration between strategic sectors and has placed Spain at the forefront of Europe in this area, together with countries such as Germany, Portugal or Denmark.”
