The trend is “concerning”estimates the European Union Intellectual Property Office (Euipo): 52% of Europeans, aged 15 to 24, bought a counterfeit product in 2022, according to the results of the survey on the report young people to intellectual property, unveiled on Wednesday 8 June by the European body.
Some consumers have made this purchase by accident, others knowingly: among them, 15% of them say they have “involuntarily” purchased this item, while 37% of them admit to having used it voluntarily. Although the results of this study are not “directly comparable to previous waves of the survey”Euipo recalls that in 2019 14% of respondents said they had knowingly made a purchase of this type.
In France, this proportion of young people who have acquired counterfeits reaches 59% (29% of them were well aware of it). Consumers in France mainly choose counterfeit clothing (13%), shoes (10%), electronic products (10%) and health and beauty brands (10%).
The survey, conducted among 22,021 young people questioned in the 27 States of the European Union, in February 2022, also shows how much the market for cultural products continues to suffer from counterfeiting. A third of respondents have used, read, downloaded or streamed content from illegal sources; 21% of them accessed it on purpose. However, this proportion remains stable compared to that observed in 2019. In France, 29% have used it deliberately.
The price, main motivation
Europeans who have intentionally bought pirated products in the last twelve months have chosen movies (67%), television series (51%), music (34%), software (33 %), sports events broadcast live (34%) or video games (28%). Even if it means using specific websites, in particular to watch films and series, and applications to listen to music.
The Euipo notes that the main explanation behind these purchases of pirated products through illicit means remains the price, ahead of access to desired content only available from an illegal source. For 55% of respondents, it is also the cost of counterfeit clothing, a pair of shoes, a bottle of perfume or any other physical product that motivated its acquisition.
Several factors would favor the development of these behaviors. To start with “online commerce and digital consumption, which have increased considerably”notes the Euipo, which calls “stakeholders, policy makers, educators and civil society organizations” to one ” sensitization ” young audiences about the risks of counterfeiting and piracy.