The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) welcomes the European Parliament’s resolutionon “challenges of sports events organisers in the digital environment”, adopted in plenary session on the 19th of May with a very large majority.
More specifically, AAPA welcomes the call made by the European Parliament for the removal of, or the disabling of access to, infringing live sport broadcasts to be done within 30 minutes of the receipt of the notification from rightholders or from a “certified trusted flagger”. We especially welcome the fact that the European Parliament considers that those “certified trusted flaggers” can be rightholders, intermediaries and other service providers whose software tools are able to effectively and reliably identify illegal broadcasting of live sports. Finally, AAPA also salutes the emphasis put in the resolution on the need for more effective enforcement (including cross-border) of rights, notice and action mechanisms and blocking injunctions.
Against this background, we consider this resolution provides an important political signal that the fight against the growing scourge of audiovisual piracy needs to be tackled seriously and urgently. We very much look forward to the European Commission’s response to this resolution and stand ready to contribute to any policy and regulatory efforts aimed at fighting audiovisual piracy, including as part of the Digital Services Act proposal currently discussed by the EU co-legislators.