Anti-Piracy, Legal Framework and Actions
As an answer to pirate actions and the damage they cause in the music family, IFPI globally has created response mechanisms. Based on national legislations, European legislation and EU Directives, bilateral and international treaties, we try to contribute to the application of fair regulations and the decontamination of the music market.
The anti-piracy unit of IFPI Greece deals with the information of the public regarding the problem and the implications of music piracy, tries to raise awareness of the Authorities to assist to our goals, provides information and accepts complaints regarding illegal activities (210 - 68.44.444 info@ifpi.gr) and assists the Police and the Courts by supplying expert reports and filing compalints.
The Law 2121/93 determines for Greece the relevant to Intellectual Property matters, the exploitation rights - both copyrights and neighboring rights - that are derived by IP, delimits the methods of legal use of music and provides the penalties for the offenders. It is regarded as adequately groundbreaking compared to relevant European legislation and rather severe regarding the provided penalties. Specifically, the minimum sentence for piracy is 1 year imprisonment, combined with a fine of €3.000. The specific penalties can be amplified, in case of recurrent offenders.
Unfortunately, a good Law is not what it takes to solve the problem. In our country lie basic problems of enforcement and proper law imposing. For several years manpower shortages of the Hellenic Police (despite their hard efforts and the realization from their part of their key role in fighting piracy) and the leniency of the Greek Courts (especially towards immigrant offenders) in combination to structural weaknesses of the state making immigrants "invisible", led to an uncontrollable amount of physical piracy during the last decades. The phenomenon subsided only at the late '00s, only because it was set aside by the internet piracy, with the spread of broadband connections and the raise of of internet access percentages. Now challenges have changed form, but remain equally - if not more - threatening for the future not only of the music industry, but the total of creators and producers of cultural content.
In digital environment, anti-piracy is focusing at the following actions:
- notifications to access providers, asking them to shut down or block access to illegal websites
- legal actions, civil and criminal, against access providers that fail to conform to the notifications
- legal actions, civil and criminal, against website owners, in cases where they can be identified
- legal measures against pirate accessories, e.g. whoever offers links to illegal content sites, or search engines that offer capabilities of locating such files.
Due to the size of the problem, legal actions against each and every website are impossible. In the so far majority of the cases, the practice followed was to chose among websites with large number of visits, combined with substantial economic benefits for their administrators.
What needs to be understood is that IFPI's target is the promotion of music and not its policing. IFPI deals with gold sales and not fine awards. We prefer to compile Top-10 rather than sentences lists. We would be glad to reach a point at which anti-piracy team would be of no use and the only way for this to be done is neither stricter police measures nor stricter sentences. It is the respect of the public to the work of the people who love and admire and the choice of denying to participate in the theft that takes place.
As an answer to pirate actions and the damage they cause in the music family, IFPI globally has created response mechanisms. Based on national legislations, European legislation and EU Directives, bilateral and international treaties, we try to contribute to the application of fair regulations and the decontamination of the music market.
The anti-piracy unit of IFPI Greece deals with the information of the public regarding the problem and the implications of music piracy, tries to raise awareness of the Authorities to assist to our goals, provides information and accepts complaints regarding illegal activities (210 - 68.44.444 info@ifpi.gr) and assists the Police and the Courts by supplying expert reports and filing compalints.
The Law 2121/93 determines for Greece the relevant to Intellectual Property matters, the exploitation rights - both copyrights and neighboring rights - that are derived by IP, delimits the methods of legal use of music and provides the penalties for the offenders. It is regarded as adequately groundbreaking compared to relevant European legislation and rather severe regarding the provided penalties. Specifically, the minimum sentence for piracy is 1 year imprisonment, combined with a fine of €3.000. The specific penalties can be amplified, in case of recurrent offenders.
Unfortunately, a good Law is not what it takes to solve the problem. In our country lie basic problems of enforcement and proper law imposing. For several years manpower shortages of the Hellenic Police (despite their hard efforts and the realization from their part of their key role in fighting piracy) and the leniency of the Greek Courts (especially towards immigrant offenders) in combination to structural weaknesses of the state making immigrants "invisible", led to an uncontrollable amount of physical piracy during the last decades. The phenomenon subsided only at the late '00s, only because it was set aside by the internet piracy, with the spread of broadband connections and the raise of of internet access percentages. Now challenges have changed form, but remain equally - if not more - threatening for the future not only of the music industry, but the total of creators and producers of cultural content.
In digital environment, anti-piracy is focusing at the following actions:
- notifications to access providers, asking them to shut down or block access to illegal websites
- legal actions, civil and criminal, against access providers that fail to conform to the notifications
- legal actions, civil and criminal, against website owners, in cases where they can be identified
- legal measures against pirate accessories, e.g. whoever offers links to illegal content sites, or search engines that offer capabilities of locating such files.
Due to the size of the problem, legal actions against each and every website are impossible. In the so far majority of the cases, the practice followed was to chose among websites with large number of visits, combined with substantial economic benefits for their administrators.
What needs to be understood is that IFPI's target is the promotion of music and not its policing. IFPI deals with gold sales and not fine awards. We prefer to compile Top-10 rather than sentences lists. We would be glad to reach a point at which anti-piracy team would be of no use and the only way for this to be done is neither stricter police measures nor stricter sentences. It is the respect of the public to the work of the people who love and admire and the choice of denying to participate in the theft that takes place.
Anti-Piracy, Legal Framework & Actions