This week, COMMUNIA made a submission to a call for evidence on the assessment of the May 2023 Commission Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events (available as a PDF file). The Commission is set to assess whether the Recommendation has led to the adoption of effective measures against the unauthorised retransmission of sports and other live events this year.
We understand that online priracy of sports and other live events poses a specific challenge to the legitiamte interests of rightholders and other affected parties, as most of the value of such events needs to be exploited during their live transmission. We believe, however, that the toolkit developed in the Recommendation is sufficient and should be exhausted before new measures are considered. In its evaluation of the Recommendation, the Commission should not only consider economic evidence, but also the impact of enforcement measures on fundamental rights, especially freedom of expression and information.
