In 2023, the European Commission published a non-legislative recommendation toward combating online piracy of sports and other live events, encouraging stakeholders to take appropriate measures against the unauthorised retransmission of live events, while guaranteeing the necessary safeguards to protect fundamental rights.
An analysis by the professional services firm Grant Thornton found that piracy was alive and thriving. The firm’s analysis of the data provided, created in partnership with the Live Content Coalition (LCC), found that only a small proportion of takedown notices led to suspension with intermediaries showing low responsiveness to notices.
Key findings included:
- 5.30 million takedown notices relating to unauthorised retransmission of live events
were submitted to intermediaries - 980,000 (19%) resulted in the suspension of the unauthorised retransmission of a
live event before the end of the authorised retransmission - 920,000 (17%) were addressed by the intermediary but didn’t result in a suspension
- 3.40 million (64%) notices weren’t addressed at all
Notices submitted to Dedicated Server Providers (DSPs) had the lowest success rate: 12% were suspended; compared to online platforms, of which 89% of notices were
suspended.
Methodology
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) supported the European Commission in monitoring the effects of its Recommendation by gathering data from national authorities, rights holders and a number of intermediary services. Data has been shared for Q1 2024 and Q2 2024 from 11 rights holders (including major sports leagues and broadcasters) with Grant Thornton.
Further reading
The impact of the European Commission’s Recommendation on combating online piracy of live events. Report. November 4, 2024. by Grant Thornton UK LLC.
Why it matters
According to this report, efforts to combat piracy are ongoing, with the Live Content Coalition (LCC) striving to emphasise its impact. The LCC hopes for broader cooperation from Dedicated Server Providers, which would significantly reduce unauthorized event transmissions and minimise that impact.
The European Commission has suggested additional escalation measures and has urged jurisdictions to empower event organisers to take legal action against unauthorised event retransmissions. In the data shared with Grant Thornton, 108 court injunctions were sought in 2024, with 106 (98%) being approved.
