AAPA in 2021 – So Far
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AAPA in 2021 – So far
- The pandemic continued to affect our activities. There was no let-up in the growth in piracy and efforts to fight it were unrelenting.
- AAPA members, Sky Italia, Nagra, Canal +, Synamedia, Sky UK, Irdeto, the Premier League, LaLiga, NOS and others recorded significant operational successes in Italy, Switzerland, the U.K., Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
- AAPA thanks law enforcement and others who – despite covid – went out into the field to carry out anti-piracy operations.
- AAPA held bi-monthly meetings – all virtual. The practice of inviting an external speaker continued, with representatives of An Garda Siochana Ireland, Cloudflare, and Mastercard joining us.
- We welcomed Altice France as a member.
- Our revitalised Working Groups continued to play an important role. Given the increasing significance of apps as a means of access to pirated content a separate apps WG was set up.
- The Policy and Regulation Working Group has a particularly busy agenda with the EU Digital Services Act being its priority.
- INTERPOL invited AAPA to be a partner in its 5-year Stop Online Piracy project (i-SOP) which is funded by the Republic of Korea. We are delighted to have this opportunity to support the fight against piracy on a global basis.
- AAPA organised a workshop, co-branded with INTERPOL, on international collaboration. Over 350 people attended, including participants from law enforcement in 40 different countries. They heard from speakers from AAPA, INTERPOL, Europol, Eurojust, the US IPR Centre, and Worldstream.
- AAPA also joined a Digital Piracy webinar organised by the International IP Crime Investigators College (IIPCIC).
- We presented to the Europol IOSXII conference. The focus this year was on apps and hosting providers.
- Europol published – for law enforcement – an Early Warning Notice (EWN) on illicit streaming devices (ISDs) using material supplied by AAPA.
- We worked with other private sector stakeholders and the EUIPO to lobby successfully for the re-inclusion of IP crime as an EMPACT priority.
- Our communications plan was launched in the spring. We have published 3 blogs; issued an infographic on World IP Day; supported UL’s digital safety campaign during the summer; took part in a Broadcast TV News Meet and Greet seminar on piracy; and were interviewed for a feature on piracy and challenges for the supply chain and trade shows which was published in IBC 365.
- We continue to participate in the EUIPO Observatory meetings.
- We said goodbye (or possibly adieu) to Phillip Davies, one of our Co-Presidents, who left Sky UK for a new career adventure. He is missed and we wish him well.
- Matteo Feraboli from Sky Italia, who has spearheaded many significant anti-piracy operations, replaced Phill.
AAPA is dedicated to fighting audiovisual piracy as effectively and efficiently as possible. We will continue to make ourselves, our knowledge and expertise, available to Europol, Eurojust, INTERPOL, the US IPR Center and other stakeholders facing the same or similar challenges. Piracy was here before the pandemic and it will still be here long after. It is essential we work together to counter the damage it does.
