Rights Alliance's Annual report 2022

Annual report 2022

Organisation information

RettighedsAlliancen

Vesterbrogade 15, 1 1620 København V

The Danish Rights Alliance is an organisation for the creative industries located on Vesterbrogade in Copenhagen

CVR-nr.36328797

Tel: +45 6056 6364

Mail: mail@rettighedsalliancen.dk

Bank info

Jyske Bank

Reg.nr. 7417 Konto.nr. 1006690

IBAN: DK7274170001006690

BIC/SWIFT: JYBADKKK

CEO

Maria Fredenslund Secretariat

9 employees

Agenda

Under the regulations, Rights Alliance’s core task is to protect the rights of the creative industry on the Internet through enforcement and information.

Bestyrelse

Charlotte Enevoldsen, Danish Producers’ Association (chair)

Cathrine Skovsted, Danske

Dramatikere

Christine Bødtcher-Hansen, Danish Publishers

Helene May Kristensen, IFPI

Denmark

Kaspar Lindhardt, KODA

Kim Poul Christensen, Nuuday

Kristoffer Mejborn, Louis Poulsen

Mads Kierkegaard Jørgensen, Nordisk Film A/S Filmdistribution

Mads Nedergaard, FAFID

Maj Hagstrøm, Dansk Actors’ Association

Morten Madsen, Dansk Musicians’ Union

Sten Hansen, PP Møbler

Preface

- Status on 2022

Rights are increasingly the focus of illegal activities. It is by now well known that content and products to which Rights Alliance’s members own the rights are distributed and used illegally. In the Rights Alliance, we see that rights infringements are also part of organized crime, where both content products and brands act as means for the criminals to lure money, identity information or other things out of Danes.

has passed

AT THE SAME TIME, the Danes are still less legal when they are online than in the analogue world, and this is supported by the fact that it is easy to find illegal copies, while there is money to be saved on everything from designer

copies to entertainment and textbooks. A third category of infringements points to social platforms where content is distributed illegally and where it can be difficult for users to see that they are committing rights infringements.

CEO Maria Fredenslund tells about the year that

THE ILLEGAL MARKET is spreading and today is extensive on open, legal online sharing platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. This has fragmented the illegal market even more. Therefore, in 2022, Rights Alliance has had a major focus on enforcement and development on these platforms, which we have been given the opportunity to do through a number of tools at the platforms. For example, Rights Alliance has prevented just over 4,600 sales of design copies and close to 14,000 uploads of Danish films and series using these new tools.

THE INFRINGEMENTS now go beyond the individual Dane to a greater extent. This happens in the form of password hacking and fraud. The former covers the hacking of ordinary Danes’ emails and passwords, which give access to various content services. In this way, not only the rights holders and the services are violated, but also the individual Dane. In addition, in 2022, Rights Alliance also saw more and more ad fraud on social media, where the image of well-known Danes and the brands of companies are used to swindle ordinary Danes into, e.g., investing in bitcoins.

IN 2022, verdicts were reached in several cases against criminal masterminds behind file-sharing services, which were closed in a large-scale operation at the turn of the year 2020/2021. Here, two years later, it has been possible to get five out of seven masterminds convicted, with the remaining two waiting for their cases to be scheduled by the courts.

RIGHTS ALLIANCE’S EFFORTS have so far been primarily focused on the masterminds behind illegal file-sharing services with the objective of stopping illegal distribution and holding those responsible accountable in the courts. But in 2022 we had the first cases against systematic users of illegal file-sharing services. This marks the fact that we are now showing that there are consequences not only for criminals but also for users who continuously violate rights.

© Em Be Khoc Nhe

Status on the illegal market

- Trends and extent

Data and knowledge about trends, behaviour and developments on the illegal market are crucial for Rights Alliance’s work in the fight for better conditions for creative content online. Data and knowledge about both the Danes’ use of illegal content and trends in the illegal market give Rights Alliance insight into where to focus and how our activities must be adapted to current conditions. This relationship between thorough investigations and purposeful work has made Rights Alliance a leading expert and pioneer in the protection of rights and the development of enforcement efforts.

RIGHTS ALLIANCE’S WORK with and fight against the illegal market spans several areas within the creative industry, which covers films, series, IPTV, design, literature, including textbooks, and music. Within all the areas, we try to shed light on what trends and developments there are, and what Danes’ behaviour and consumption are like. Our data comes from various user surveys as well as our monitoring and investigation, each of which helps to paint

a picture of trends and behaviour within the areas that Rights Alliance works with. The upcoming introductory sections will give a more general picture of the illegal market and the behaviour of the Danes, while specific data for the various areas will be reviewed later under the individual content areas.

FACTS on the illegal market

* 580,000 Danes watch films and series illegally film.

* 40% of the films that are watched illegally are Danish productions.

* More than 70% of Danes who stream illegally do so via Facebook, YouTube, or both.

* 125,000 households use illegal IPTV.

* Every second Danish student who uses digital textbooks has used illegal textbooks at least once.

* 68% of Danish students find it acceptable to share digital textbooks illegally.

© Edwin Andrade

© Ilya Pavlov

Chart 1) The development in traffic to blocked illegal websites in 2022. The development is shown in percentage with January 2022 as a starting point (= 100%)

To be able to measure the traffic to illegal websites, Rights Alliance uses data from Similarweb, which is a tool that can estimate the number of visitors to websites. Via Similarweb, we keep an eye on the development of traffic to the blocked, illegal websites that Rights Alliance knows about every month.

DATA FROM SIMILARWEB shows the overall development in the number of Danish visits to illegal, blocked websites in 2022, which can be seen in the chart above. The chart shows that in 2022 there has been a 40% drop in the number of visits to illegal, blocked websites. There are several different reasons for the drop in the number of visits to illegal sites.

Part of the reason for this decrease must be found in the fact that in 2022 there has been a revision of the Code of Conduct (read more on page 13), which has contributed to the fact that blocking of mirror sites has been made more efficient. In addition, illegal consumption has moved from illegal websites to legal online sharing platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. A third reason for the drop of 40% is that Similarweb only measures visits from Danish IP addresses, which means that if a Danish user uses a VPN to bypass blocking and thereby access illegal websites, the visit is not included in Similarweb’s data.

THE EFFECT of the revised Code of Conduct is clearly seen in the chart above. The revision took place in September 2022, which is why an increase in the number of blocked mirror sites is seen. Mirror sites is a term that covers copies of existing services. From having an average of fewer than 20 blocks of mirror sites per month, we have gone on to at least double this number per month, and in November as many as 160 mirror sites were blocked. Efforts to block mirror sites have therefore been strengthened in 2022.

fragmented than we have experienced previously. We find that illegal content is widely found on social media, where the content is shared on profiles, in private groups, and in chat messages.

In addition, the illegal sharing of creative content is not the only field in which Rights Alliance in 2022 has seen a worrying development. Hacking of passwords for content services and fraudulent advertisements where members are abused on social media are two trends that Rights Alliance has an increased focus on. The following sections will describe these trends.

The illegal market is constantly evolving and in 2022, it has become much more

Chart 2) The number of blocked mirror sites per month in 2022

Social media

Data from Mediavision underlines that the market for illegal sharing of creative content in particular has shifted to legal social platforms. Mediavision’s Nordic Piracy –Spring 2022 shows what platforms Danes use to access illegal content. Clearly, legal services such as Facebook and YouTube are the most popular sites for illegal content among Danish pirates. Close to half of the Danish pirates use YouTube to access illegal content. It looks just as disturbing when you look at the use of Facebook. Here, as many as 42% of the Danish pirates use Facebook to stream films and series illegally. This is an increase of 11% since 2021 and 20% since 2020. It is therefore a

problem in clear and large growth.

If we look at the Danish Chamber of Commerce’s table from the survey Illegal streaming and download 2022 about the types of content that the respondents have shared, received, or participated in illegal streaming or downloading, it is clear that even though YouTube is still generally the social media, where most sharing of illegal content takes place, then there is an increasing problem with newer social media. A whopping 33% of those who have received, shared, or participated in illegal streaming and downloading of movies and series on social media have done so via TikTok, which is a higher

Chart 3) Data from Mediavision on development in illegal streaming via Facebook and YouTube in Denmark. The blurred graphs are illegal services that have no relevance in this context

percentage than Facebook. And Snapchat accounts for exactly the same percentage as Facebook with 31%

These numbers show that illegal sharing has largely started to move to social media targeting younger people like TikTok. This is probably largely because it is primarily young people between the ages of 15-29 who use social media to share content illegally. Furthermore, these figures emphasize that much of the illegal sharing takes place in private chat messages, where Rights Alliance’s monitoring and thus enforcement is extremely difficult to carry out.

The trend of illegal content on legal social platforms is the reason why Rights Alliance in 2022 focused heavily on gaining access to takedown tools at the platforms and establishing collaborations with those platforms that do not yet have automatic takedown tools available. We find that it makes a difference when there are effective tools available on the platforms, and this is an area that we continue to focus on.

Read more about the effect of the automatic tools under the individual sections: Movies, series, and TV content: p. 20 Design: p. 15

Chart 4) Data from the Danish Chamber of Commerce showing from which platforms are streamd and/or downloaded illegally

Password hacking

Phacking takes place in such a way that Danes’ access information such as e-mails and passwords are hacked from websites with low protection where they have a user login, and for most Danes, emails and passwords are reused for many different services where login is required. The hacked access information is then tested inprogrammes to find a match between passwords, emails, and a given service. If there is a match, this information can be illegally sold.

In 2022, Rights Alliance has therefore increased its focus on password hacking and the illegal sale of Danes’ access information, which is misused to access content services such as Netflix, Disney+, TV 2 PLAY, YouSee TV packages, Mofibo, daily newspapers, and many other subscription-based services. The hacked

subscriptions are resold to other users significantly cheaper than the subscription normally is. This is therefore a crime that not only violates Danes’ personal information but also affects the finances of Danish services that requires a subscription. The monitoring of forums where these illegal accesses can be bought shows that this is a highly organised form of crime. Not only is the price low but there is also a high level of service and efficiency. There is a short response time and quick help if the buyers of this illegal information experience problems. In addition to monitoring hacker forums where this information is put up for sale, Rights Alliance has in 2022 convicted the first Dane of hacking and selling ordinary Danes’ access information to content services, and more cases will follow in 2023

Image 1: How password hacking works: From hacking a tennis club’s webstie to illegally selling access information to streaming services

Ad Fraud

In 2022, Rights Alliance has also focused on ad fraud on social media such as Facebook. These scam ads exploit and abuse Danish brands and celebrities to cheat the Danes out of money by using their names and images in ads that entice with, e.g., investment in bitcoins, slimming products, and the like.

In 2022, Rights Alliance has been given tools to take down fraudulent ads on Facebook. Unfortunately, the tool cannot prevent the upload of the fraudulent ads, but we can take down the ads with manual monitoring and effort. However, the experience is that the criminals who are behind the ad fraud quickly get the ads up again, just with another advertiser as the sender, so a continuous and large effort is needed in this area.

Political Initiatives and Collaborations

Rights Alliance works tenaciously to put the protection of rights on the political agenda. The fast-moving digital development challenges existing legislation and organisation within authorities, police etc. Therefore, rights protection must be considered in both political agreements, in the organisation and work of the authorities, and in cooperation agreements between private actors, so that we ensure the most effective handling of rights infringements possible. The following sections show how Rights Alliance in 2022 has actively worked on this.

services in their search for content, and also provide general user information.

The focal point of the blocking cooperation is a Code of Conduct agreement, which has been revised in 2022 with a view to making the cooperation more effective. The Code of Conduct obliges, i.a., the members of the Telecommunications Industry Association’s members to quickly and effectively block services that have been ruled illegal by a court of law. When an illegal service is blocked, users will be greeted by a ’blocking sign’ when they try to access it.

SINCE 2013, Rights Alliance, the Ministry of Culture, and the Telecommunications Industry Association have entered into a collaboration called Share With Care, which aims to simply and effectively block illegal websites, guide consumers to legal

Due to the constant and rapid development of the illegal market, it has been necessary to carry out a slight revision of the Code of Conduct. The revision enables ISPs to automatically retrieve an updated list of sites to be blocked, and the process of getting them blocked has been speeded up. All blocking takes place on the basis of a court decision that the blocked service is illegal.

Article 17 forum

IN JUNE 2021, the new copyright law entered into force and thus implemented the EU’s copyright directive from 2019, where in particular the part of Article 17 relating to the enforcement of rights has been of great interest to Rights Alliance. The new law places responsibility on online sharing platforms such as Google and Facebook to ensure that only legal content is available on their respective platforms. To ensure this, the online sharing platforms must provide rights holders with access to relevant and up-todate tools that can detect and remove infringing content, i.e., content where the platforms have not entered into a license agreement.

At the end of 2021, Rights Alliance took the initiative to establish a voluntary Article 17 forum, where platforms such as Google, Facebook, and TikTok participate together with Rights Alliance as representatives of Danish rights holders. The purpose of this forum is that you can continuously follow up on access to the tools and catch any problems in the bud.

2022 marked the year when Rights Alliance adopted the takedown tools provided by Facebook and Google. In this connection, the cooperation in the Article 17 forum has made a positive contribution. Rights Alliance has worked in dialogue with Facebook to test and develop the takedown tools. Good dialogue has been established between the parties in the Article 17 forum, and Rights Alliance sees that the tools are being further developed, and Rights Alliance has an influence on that process. Based on this positive cooperation, Rights Alliance together with Facebook will launch a campaign in

2023 that will focus on the problems with sharing illegal content on the platform.

Dialogue forum

IN JUNE 2022, the Kodex steering group under the Ministry of Culture’s Dialogue Forum was constituted with Danish Media’s head of legal department, Holger Rosendal, as chairman and Rights Alliance CEO Maria Fredenslund as deputy. Dialogue Forum is a collaboration where all relevant stakeholders are invited to join a common Code of Conduct to eliminate the financial basis of illegal services. This is done by cutting off the money flows to illegal activities by, e.g., preventing legal advertisements from being placed on the websites of the illegal services. This is done using the so-called ’Cooperation List’, which covers services that are known to be illegal via the court’s blocking order. Rights Alliance provides content for the list, which due to personal data considerations is distributed by the Ministry of Culture.

In connection with the establishment of the steering group, the Ministry of Culture gave a commitment that an upcoming

change in the law in mid-2023 will transfer responsibility for the Cooperation List to Rights Alliance. This opens to a more flexible design of the Cooperation List with a view to increasing the relevance for the participants – initially advertisers and payment intermediaries.

under Special Crime Unit. In 2022, Rights Alliance together with, i.a., banks worked to demonstrate that the very restrictive Danish interpretation of the rules for data sharing has unfortunate consequences in relation to limiting illegalities. NCIK has recognized the problem and will in 2023 initiate a dialogue with the Danish Data Protection Agency about a more proportional interpretation of the legislation, which is required so that essential tools for Rights Alliance, such as the blocking and cooperation list, can be optimally developed.

Digital Service Act and a new Network and Information Security

Forum against IT-related economic crime

FORUM AGAINST IT-RELATED FINAN-

CIAL CRIME (FIT) brings together private and public actors who find that IT-related financial crime is a challenge that is difficult to combat alone. The work programme for FIT is determined by a steering group chaired by the police’s National Center for IT Crime (NCIK)

IN 2022, Rights Alliance, in collaboration with European organisations such as the Motion Picture Association (MPA), has contributed significant input in connection with the completion of the EU’s Digital Service Act (DSA) regulation. The focus was on introducing a so-called ’Know Your Business Customer’ (KYBC), which requires online sharing platforms to know and verify their users. This would have been a significant step in limiting illegal services, but unfortunately, the requirement was only partially passed in the DSA regulation. It was restricted to targeting trading platforms with physical goods such as Amazon and others.

In return, Rights Alliance participated in a European alliance to successfully secure requirements for the availability of domain name holders (’whois’) in the new Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2). This means that actors behind a website and domain are available for investigation.

© Rasmus Smedstrup Mortensen

Rights Alliance works focused on preventing rights infringements in the Danish design industry. The area has a high priority, and Rights Alliance works on both specific cases and infringements, as well as politically to put the problem of design copies on the political agenda. The specific infringements take place partly on websites that offer illegal copies of Danish design. Rights Alliance continuously blocks such websites. In part, there are dedicated sales platforms such as DBA and Facebook Marketplace, where illegal copies are sold, and in addition, infringements can also occur through the illegal display of copy products – e.g., in cases where a restaurant has purchased copies of Danish design furniture for the inventory. On Facebook and Instagram, we also remove ads from foreign websites that offer illegal copies. In these and many other cases, Rights Alliance can help if infringements take place. In the following sections, we will delve into specific examples of rights infringements, cases, and the measures that Rights Alliance uses in connection with the enforcement of design rights.

A FEW YEARS AGO, YouGov conducted a survey for Rights Alliance on Danes’ purchase of copies of Danish design classics. The figures showed that 11% of Danes have bought copies of Danish design classics within the past five years, while 19% expect to buy within the next two years. In addition, the survey showed that the largest sales channels for copies of Danish design classics are, i.a., on DBA and on Facebook, which has led us to intensify the investigation on these platforms. It has also given rise to an information campaign Os Der Elsker Originaler (We Who Love Originals), which aims to raise awareness of the problems of buying illegal design copies among Danes.

OS DER ELSKER ORIGINALER (We Who Love Orignials) is an information campaign that aims to inform the Danes about the rules and consequences regarding the purchase and sale of design copies. Like Rights Alliance’s other campaigns, Os Der Elsker Originaler will recognize rather than intimidate, and the aim of the campaign is to motivate the individual to choose original Danish design and protect our identity as a design nation. The campaign will also provide information on the personal reasons for opting out of copy designs, which both concern safety considerations for the consumer and CSR perspectives in production.

In 2022, the work with Os Der Elsker Originaler has primarily been characterized by funding. So far, the campaign is supported by Dreyer’s Fond and Træet Uddannelsog Udviklingsfond, while the last funding is expected to be in place in the first quarter of 2023, after which the start-up of the campaign will begin.

Os Der Elsker Originaler

© Jeff Sheldon

ON THE ENFORCEMENT SIDE, 2022 has offered a large number of takedowns of advertisements for the sale of illegal copies of Danish design. On DBA, the takedowns have been of a more manual nature, where we continuously keep an eye on advertisements for the products of Rights Alliance’s members and whether they are copies. If we find these, we contact DBA, who takes down the ads. On Facebook, on the other hand, the system has been automated and greatly streamlined in 2022. Due to the implementation of the EU’s copyright directive in Danish law, content services are obliged to ensure that only legal content is allowed on their platforms. This resulted in Rights Alliance in 2021 gaining access to several tools that can take down illegal content and ads, and these have been greatly improved in 2022. So far, the monitoring of ads has been done manually by Rights Alliance keeping an eye on public Facebook groups with sales ads, where we have then contacted the users who have offered illegal copies and asked them to take them down. In 2022, Facebook has made takedown tools available to Rights Alliance. These tools allow us to search more broadly and more automatically across the entire platform with just a few keywords, which will then register all public ads – both in groups and on Facebook Marketplace – after which the Rights Alliance can deal with the legality of these ads.

This has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of ads that Rights Alliance has taken down from Facebook in 2022. In total, 4,760 ads have been reported, with 97% of these ending up with the product ads being taken down. On DBA, where the takedowns are more manual, Rights Alliance has had 201 cases in 2022. If we look at both figures together, it is striking that the number of takedowns has almost increased tenfold from 2021.

In 2022, Rights Alliance has also intensified cooperation with the customs authorities to find counterfeit goods that are imported into Denmark, e.g., through a customs sheet that should make it easier for customs officers to recognise copies of members’ products. The involvement of the authorities is important, and customs is a good example of how dialogue can improve enforcement.

Chart 5) Overview of reported ads about copies of Danish design on Facebook in 2022

Board position at the association behind DesignNævnet

RIGHTS ALLIANCE JOINED as an associate member of Foreningen for Retsbeskyttelse af Arkitektur, Design og Kunsthåndværk (translation: Association for Legal Protection of Architecture, Design and Crafts). The association was established by FAOD (Union of Architects and Designers), DkoD (Danish Crafts & Design Association), Design Denmark, Akademikerne/UBVA, the Confederation of Danish Industry and the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

The association is behind and runs the DesignNævnet and Responsumudvalget (translation: opinion committee). The DesignNævnet deals

with cases of design infringements. These cases may be whether one or more works are protected by law and/or whether there has been a violation of the protection. Responsumudvalget deals with cases dealing with whether a work is protected by legislation, without the protection necessarily having been violated in a specific case.

The membership is a significant step forward in the work with the protection and enforcement of design rights, as the association’s field of work is of great importance to the members of Rights Alliance.

Rights Alliance wants to contribute to making it easier for designers and companies to have their cases of infringements of their designs tried. At the same time, there is need to examine whether the sentences that make it through the legal system today actually have a deterrent effect. Much suggests that this is not the case. These are topics that Rights Alliance has tackled and will continue to work on in 2023.

In the video, you can hear more about design members’ experience of Rights Alliance’s efforts in the design area.

Cases

RIGHTS ALLIANCE has worked with a large number of cases about design copies. Below is described a selection of cases that Rights Alliance has investigated in 2022:

• A restaurant in Ribe used 22 replicas of designer chairs.

• A company illegally used images of an original design chair by Hans J. Wegner in its marketing on their website.

• A company sold copies of various products to which Carl Hansen & Søn and Fritz Hansen have rights, both in physical stores and online.

• A website marketed and sold replicas of a designer chair.

• A private individual sold a replica designer chair at DBA.

• A website sold replicas of several designer chairs.

In 2022, Rights Alliance also worked on an extensive case regarding the sale of copy designs in several European countries. The case is international, and therefore Europol has entered the case and is coordinating with the authorities of various countries. The case is under investigation.

Wesley Tingey

Scott Webb

© Wesley Tingey

© Scott Webb

Films, series, and tv content

Films, series, and TV content are heavily affected by illegal streaming and downloading and are therefore a major focus area for Rights Alliance. Again this year, we have carried out surveys that delve into the Danes’ consumption of illegal content of films, series, and TV content, just as we have continued our great efforts in the area of information and specific enforcement in court cases against those behind illegal file-sharing services and heavy consumers of the same services, blocking websites that offer illegal content, as well as taking down illegal copies on social media such as Facebook and YouTube. In 2022, Rights Alliance also focused on the illegal streaming of TV content, including live sports, and last year investigated Danes’ consumption of IPTV and illegal streaming of live sports. Regarding enforcement, we have continued blocking services that provide access to illegal TV, and 2022 has seen two important judgments in cases dealing with illegal IPTV.

Overblik og status

SURVEYS OF DANES’ CONSUMPTION of illegal films and series in 2022 show that piracy still challenges the area. Mediavision’s survey Nordic Piracy – Spring 2022 shows that 13%, corresponding to 580,000 Danes aged 15-74, download or stream films and/or series illegally. This is an increase of 80,000 since the spring of 2021. It is also the highest proportion since 2014, when Mediavision began measuring illegal consumption for Rights Alliance.

One of the explanations for this increase is that the illegal market is constantly

changing and adapting to the technologies and opportunities of the time. In 2020, Rights Alliance was behind massive shutdowns of Danish illegal file-sharing services, which put an end to the established forums where illegal sharing of films and series took place. But the illegal market is constantly finding new ways, and this can be seen in a massive increase in Danes using legal online sharing platforms such as Facebook and/ or YouTube to stream films and series illegally. More than 70% of Danes who

have streamed illegally do so via either Facebook and/or YouTube. In addition, Mediavision’s investigation also makes it clear that 40% of the illegal content that is downloaded or streamed illegally is Danish-produced, which is a significant increase. In 2020, the share of Danish-produced content was 21%, while in 2021 it was 32%.

This trend of illegal downloading and

streaming on legal online sharing platforms is constantly evolving, which the Danish Chamber of Commerce’s investigation helps to underline. In this, it is clear that most Danes who stream or download illegally on legal platforms primarily do so through YouTube. But there is an alarming development in social media targeting younger people. According to the Danish Chamber of Commerce’s survey, around a third of

Chart 6) Data from Mediavision showing the development in Danes who stream and download illegally

Chart 7) Data from Mediavision showing the proportion of Danish-produced content that is streamed and/or downloaded illegally

Danes who stream and download films and series illegally use TikTok and/or Snapchat, which is a larger and an equally large share as Facebook, respectively. Therefore, we see that the trend of illegal streaming and downloading on legal online sharing platforms or social media is not only at a high level, but also in development as it spreads to more and newer social media.

Mediavision’s survey Nordic Piracy –Spring 2022 shows that the consumption of illegal IPTV in Denmark is extensive. As many as 125,000 households in Denmark subscribe to illegal IPTV for their daily TV, film, and series intake. They use these illegal accesses partly to access streaming services,

but particularly also to access live TV in the form of TV channels that include both Danish and international channels.

When it comes to illegal streaming of TV content, the Mediavision report shows that it is particularly regarding sports events. Mediavision’s survey shows that 25% of Danes who use IPTV illegally have watched sports channels illegally within the last 24 hours. Illegal streaming of live sports is an area where Rights Alliance has had a major focus in 2022, which blockings and lawsuits from the past year will also show later in this report.

Chart 8) Date from the Danish Chamber of Commerce showing which platforms are streamed and/or downloaded illegally

What is IPTV?

IPTV (INTERNET PROTOCOL TELEVISION) is basically a legal way to get a TV signal through your internet connection – either via ethernet cable or Wi-Fi. Today, most TV providers offer subscriptions to IPTV, which makes it possible, i.a., to fast-forwardprogrammes, access streaming services, and watch live TV. IPTV only becomes illegal when the provider of a subscription has not entered into official license agreements with the TV channels and streaming services offered. Without license agreements, the user is thus offered illegal access to the content for a price often far below the legal market price. The illegal subscriptions are connected to apps that can be accessed via smartphones, computers, and smart TVs, but Rights Alliance also sees that dealers of illegal IPTV offer physical TV boxes, where the illegal apps are pre-installed.

Chart 9) Data from Mediavision on Danes’ consumption of illegal IPTV, which also shows which types of content are streamed

IN 2022, RIGHTS ALLIANCE has focused on removing illegal content on legal online sharing platforms – especially the sharing of films and series. In 2022, we have gained access to several takedown tools at Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google (YouTube), which we have also collaborated with to further develop on an ongoing basis. This helps prevent illegal content from being shared on these platforms. This has happened against the background of the implementation of the EU’s copyright directive in Danish law, and Rights Alliance’s initiative for an Article 17 forum, where the cooperation with the platforms is further developed (read more on page 14).

The use of the takedown tools on

Meta and Google’s platforms has been effective. If we look at YouTube alone, in 2022 Rights Alliance blocked the upload of 4,264 illegal films in total, with 13 of these receiving user protests over the blocking. This corresponds to 0.3% of the blockings on YouTube being opposed. 4 of the protests were upheld while the remaining 9 were given back to the user. This is often because these are, e.g., trailers for films, which the users or companies in question have rights to show.

On Facebook, in 2022, the upload of 91.605 films produced by Rights Alliance members was blocked. Of these, 28 of the blockings have been protested, which corresponds to 0,03%. However, unlike YouTube,

Chart 10) The number of blocked films on YouTube in 2022.

100% of the blockings have been maintained on Facebook.

In connection with user protests over blocking, Facebook has several predefined reasons that users can choose from as an explanation for the protest. However, these pre-defined reasons are problematic as they can help promote more protests over blockings, as this option makes it much easier to protest.

We can see that almost half of the users who object to the blockings choose an option where it is specifically written about the legal use of content in the form of ”fair use”. In the US, fair use is part of the law, which states

that it is legal to use copyrighted content without permission if it is to a limited extent. This law does not exist in Denmark, which may help to explain why some users on Facebook protest the blockings of illegally uploaded Danish content on the media.

Rights Alliance generally feels that the tools work as intended and that there is a good dialogue with the platforms when it comes to optimisation and further development of the tools. The effectiveness and usefulness of the tools are an element that Rights Alliance will bring into 2023, where work to get other online sharing platforms to develop similar tools continues.

Chart 11) The number of blocked films on Facebook in 2022, excl. January where the tool was not yet accessable for Rights Alliance

Blocking of websites with illegal streaming of live content

2022 OFFERED a revision of the Telecommunications Industry Association and Rights Alliance’s Code of Conduct with a view to making the blocking system more efficient, as described on page 13.

An example, of how effective the blocking system is, is that in 2022 we have blocked eight mirror sites for services that offer illegal links to sporting events. Blocking illegal sites that offer live sports streaming is an area that Rights Alliance will investigate, as data from Similarweb shows that the 20 most popular illegal services that offer links to live sports have more than 1 million monthly visits from Danish IP addresses.

The effectiveness of the blocking system can also be seen in a lawsuit that Rights Alliance together with the Spanish football organization La Liga has conducted in 2022. As early as 2019, Rights Alliance filed the case for blocking

ten illegal pages with links to football matches and other sporting events. The company behind one of the ten services being blocked, Puerto 80, protested the blocking, leading to a lawsuit against this service called Rojadirecta.

© Balla Schottner

After Rights Alliance and La Liga were successful in the case of blocking the service as a ”provisional remedy” in both the district court and the high court, the case ran as a ”follow-up trial” in December 2022 in the Court in Frederiksberg. Here, Rights Alliance

and La Liga were again successful in the case.

The latest verdict underlines that by making links to live football available on Rojadirecta, Puerto 80 has infringed La Liga’s copyright. It was thus established for the first time in Danish law that recordings of La Liga football matches are protected under section 1 of the Copyright Act as film-work. It was further decided that, because of the illegal activities at Rojadirecta, Puerto 80 must comply with the blocking imposed on Telenor. Precisely this last part of the verdict has been appealed by Puerto 80 to the High Court.

This case helps to emphasise how important the blocking system is. At the same time, the case has been an important contribution to pressure testing the processes in the Danish blocking system.

Os Der Elsker Film

IN LATE SUMMER 2022, Rights Alliance’s campaign Os Der Elsker Film (We Who Love Films) was relaunched to remind Danes to stream and watch films and series legally and to inform them of the consequences of doing so illegally. For Os Der Elsker Films’ relaunch in 2022, content elements from the campaign’s first launch in 2021 were both reused, and several new graphics were produced for the social media, where the campaign particularly unfolded. With humour as

a focal point, 14 graphic elements and two campaign videos were shared on Facebook and Instagram over five weeks, reaching a total of 607,977 unique people in the primary target group, which covers 18-28-year-olds. This is an increase of just over 125,000 unique people compared to the 2021 launch. Across all 14 graphics, 10,536 interactions were generated, including 1,362 comments.

Os Der Elsker Film was once again solidly

supported by Rights Alliance’s members and relevant stakeholders, who diligently shared the campaign’s content and message on their own social platforms.

The great results from the late summer led to another ”boost” of Os Der Elsker Film in the last weeks of the year when the campaign once again gained life on social media. This time the campaign ran over four weeks, where 14 graphic elements were shared on social media, of which 10 were newly produced –again created with a focus on love for film, knowledge, and consequential

stories told with humour, while the campaign video with actor Anders Juul ran on both social media media and in the Danish cinemas. Overall, the December launch reached just over 484,000 unique people in the primary target group (18-28-year-olds). On the 14 pieces of graphic content, 7,714 interactions were generated. The campaign video with Anders Juul ran in Danish cinemas from 25 December to mid-January 2023, where the Anders Juul video was seen by 144,630 theater guests before a theatrical release.

Cases

2022 featured a large number of lawsuits against Danes or series illegally. Rights Alliance’s major case against illegal file-sharing service Asgaard, which has been where a total of five of the seven criminals have now year in which verdicts have been reached in the first systematic users of illegal file-sharing services and who These cases testify that the fight against longer only the masterminds who convicted of having hacked illegally downloading illegally on file-sharing for offering and selling

A 43-year-old mastermind behind Asgaard was sentenced to three months’ probation. The court in Kolding, 4 February.

A 54-year-old mastermind behind Asgaard was sentenced to three months’ probation.

The court in Odense, 15 March.

A 58-year-old man was sentenced to 30 days’ probation for making and sharing copies of no less than 800 films on DanishBits and Swedish SuperBits. The verdict was for the confiscation of two computers, two external hard drives, and compensation claims of 2,840. DKK. The court at Frederiksberg, 1 September.

Two men, aged 42 and 48 respectively, were sentenced to four months’ probation for having offered and sold illegal access to over 5,000 TV channels.

19 August.

Cases

Danes who have illegally offered and consumed films against the criminal masterminds behind the now-closed, running since January 2021, has continued into 2022, now received a sentence. In addition, 2022 also marks the ”user cases”, which cover cases against Danes who are who have had a large asset in the life of these services. against the illegal market has taken a new step, as it is no who are held accountable. In addition, one Dane was hacked the passwords of ordinary Danes with a view to downloading content from, e.g., TV 2 PLAY and offering the content services. Two Danish men have also been sentenced illegal IPTV.

A 35-year-old mastermind behind Asgaard was sentenced to three months’ probation.

The court in Odense, 15 March. A 47-year-old mastermind behind Asgaard was sentenced to three months’ probation

The court in Aarhus, 3 November.

A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 60 days’ probation and 80 hours of community service for downloading and uploading content to DanishBytes. The court in Viborg, 28 November.

A 34-year-old man from Aalborg was sentenced to three months’ probation and 80 hours of community service for hacking users’ access information to TV 2 PLAY in order to download content and upload it to illegal services. In addition, he has also been convicted of having participated in the operation of DanishBytes, including IT support, active in file sharing, and content uploading. The convict also had IT equipment confiscated. The court in Aalborg, 14 November.

Literature

Literature infringement is a widespread problem in Denmark – especially in the Danish study environment, where digital textbooks are shared illegally. In addition to the sale and sharing of digital textbooks among Danes, infringements in the field of literature also include international websites that illegally offer literature, which Rights Alliance continuously aims to block. Throughout 2022, we have also focused more on the hacking of ordinary Danes’ emails and passwords for literature services with the intention of reselling the information.

Overview and status

50% OF DANISH STUDENTS who use digital textbooks have acquired at least one illegally. This is shown by a survey carried out in January 2023 by Epinion on behalf of Rights Alliance. In addition, the survey shows that the acquisition of these illegal digital copies of textbooks is often acquired in the immediate environment of the university. That is, through friends,

fellow students, tutors, or teachers. This testifies to an extensive problem in Danish study environments. It is also striking that 70% of those questioned in the survey find it acceptable to share illegal copies of textbooks with each other, which testifies to a norm in Danish studies that requires an overall cultural change to survive.

CEO Maria Fredenslund tells about sharing textbooks illegally

Rights Alliance is present on platforms such as Facebook and DBA, where we monitor the illegal sale and sharing of textbooks. The number of cases registered by Rights Alliance in 2022 has fallen drastically compared to previous years. The reason for this is that the use of illegal textbooks has moved to closed forums such as chat messages, etc., where it is more difficult to investigate, rather than open platforms such as Facebook groups and marketplaces. Despite the great efforts of the industry and Rights Alliance to combat the illegal

sharing of digital textbooks, it is still extensive. Epinion’s survey is the fourth of its kind, which shows that the challenges of illegal copying of textbooks are still towering. Therefore, Rights Alliance works intensively to get educational institutions involved in the work of both informing and sanctioning the students who break the law by sharing textbooks illegally.

Rights Alliance does this, i.a., through the campaign Os Det Elsker Viden.

Chart 11) The key results from Epinion’s survey on student acquisition of digital textbooks.

© Jessica Ruscello

THE RIGHTS ALLIANCE CAMPAIGN Os Der

Elsker Viden (We Who Love Knowledge) is an integral part of the work with information and illegal sharing of digital textbooks and has again this year run in the periods around the start of studies and semesters. Since during these periods, the students are out acquiring new textbooks for the coming semester, we have focused the campaign around these two times of the year.

The campaign itself aims to inform Danish students about the consequences of illegal sharing of textbooks and how they make legal choices when buying textbooks. Through the campaign, the students are reminded of the consequences, which are both the personal ones, which cover fines, compensation claims, and any stain on the criminal record, as well as the financial consequences for publishers and authors, which can ultimately cost the quality of Danish education.

In 2022, the Rights Alliance has focused heavily on engaging the educational institutions in Os Der Elsker Viden, as they have good prerequisites for reaching the

students more directly with the campaign’s messages. In June, Rights Alliance held a seminar focusing on the scope, challenges, and consequences of the illegal sharing of textbooks. We invited all major educational institutions, and there was great support and participation from the institutions. There were 70 participants in the seminar and 18 different institutions were represented. The seminar resulted in a good and constructive dialogue which led to several specific proposals and ideas, which resulted in a material package to use at the start of the semester at the educational institutions. The material package consisted of specific proposals for how an institution can act against the illegal sharing of textbooks.

Os Der Elsker Viden reached 173,000 people on Facebook and Instagram in August, and we experienced satisfactory activity from the educational institutions and other stakeholders who shared the campaign’s messages on social media, info screens at the educational institutions themselves, and through presentations at the start of studies. In addition, Os Der Elsker Viden also received media coverage, where Perspektiv, Uniavisen and CBSwire published articles about Os Der Elsker Viden and the problem of illegal sharing of digital textbooks.

Os Der Elsker Viden

IN 2022, Rights Alliance also focused on the illegal sharing of textbooks from NOTA, which are digital textbooks reserved for students with reading difficulties. As the graphic below from Epinion’s study shows, illegal sharing of these is also a widespread problem.

In connection with Rights Alliance’s own monitoring and investigation of illegal sharing of textbooks, we see that 59% of the sources of illegal copying originate from NOTA’s platform. This helps to support the Epinion survey findings showing that illegal sharing of NOTA files is a major issue.

2: Epinion’s survey on illegal sharing of NOTA files

Cases

• A case against a female nursing student from VIA University College in Aarhus was concluded with a preliminary fine of DKK 5,000 and confiscation of DKK 1,830 for offering and selling no fewer than 47 different digital textbooks – including scanned physical textbooks, i-books as well as NOTA editions.

• A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 60 days’ probation and 80 hours of community service for downloading and uploading content to DanishBytes, including movies, series, TV content, music, and books, as well as comics and audiobooks. In addition to a prison sentence, the verdict was for the confiscation of a desktop PC and a compensation claim of DKK 5,000.

• A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 10 days’ probation for offering 29 illegal pdfs of textbooks for sale on DBA during the period January to August 2018, during which 15 transactions with buyers took place. In addition to a prison sentence, the verdict also called for the confiscation of DKK 2,245 and a compensation claim of DKK 5,000. The court in Horsens, 5 January 2023.

Image

Music

Overview and status

Figures from the Danish Chamber of Commerce’s survey Illegal streaming and download 2022 show that 3% of Danes have streamed or downloaded music illegally within the last 12 months.

The illegal streaming and downloading of music have to a greater extent moved on to social media. The survey from the Danish Chamber of Commerce shows that those who consume music illegally do so primarily through YouTube and via private chat functions such as Messenger and Whatsapp, while illegal sharing of music on social media such as Snapchat and TikTok is also a challenge. The reason why YouTube is the high jumper may be that illegal music is uploaded to the service and that there are YouTube converters (also called stream ripping, which will be described later) where users can upload a YouTube link to a given service, which may then convert the link into an illegal mp3 file. All these services reflect the same trend as is the case with movies and series: the illegal market is increasingly moving from closed, illegal file-sharing services to open and legal online sharing platforms.

Cyberlockers

IN 2022, RIGHTS ALLIANCE has focused on the use of so-called cyberlockers for illegal sharing of music. Cyberlockers are a form of cloud that allows users to upload, store, and share content in a centralized online server that is managed by the owner of the website. Cyberlockers generate a unique URL link or sometimes several that provide access to an uploaded file, which then allows users to download or stream the content. In itself, cyberlockers are not illegal, but they are often seen as an opportunity to share illegal content. Concerning the illegal sharing of music, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has submitted its recommendations to the EU’s upcoming Counterfeit and Piracy Watchlist, where it appears that cyberlockers have increased in popularity. In addition, IFPI’s recommendations also emphasise that the EU keeps an eye on several platforms that are in themselves legal but are used to share illegal content - in the same way as is seen in Denmark through social media - which include Discord, Reddit, Twitter, and Telegram.

IFPI reports that cyberlockers are still a significant distribution channel for illegal music sharing. The problem lies mainly in the fact that cyberlockers are a primary channel for sharing unreleased music, which is a major problem for the music industry, as this can have major financial consequences.

© Matt Botsford

IN 2018, the first stream ripping service was ruled illegal and blocked. Rights Alliance led the case on behalf of IFPI, KODA, the Danish Artists’ Union and the Danish Musicians’ Union, and the verdict was the first worldwide. Since then, Rights Alliance has continuously led several blocking cases on stream ripping services. But they are still a big problem.

”Stream ripping” is a technique that enables the download of permanent copies from legal music sites - typically, e.g., it will be music videos from YouTube that are illegally converted to mp3 files through stream ripping services. Rights Alliance has a strong focus on stream ripping services and in 2022, we worked on a blocking case, which will be initiated at the beginning of 2023.

Cases

A MAJOR FOCUS AREA for Rights Alliance in 2022 has been false advertising on social media, where well-known Danes and brands are misused to trick ordinary Danes into, e.g., investing in bitcoins or otherwise tricking them into handing over private information. Not only does it harm the ordinary Dane, but it also harms Danish artists, and musicians are certainly also at risk. In part, the use of images of the artists for these fraudulent ads infringes the rights of the artists themselves, but it also damages their image to their fans. Therefore, it is a problem that Rights Alliance has a great focus on, and which we will continue to work on in 2023, where at the beginning of the year we will, i.a., hold webinars with a focus on identity abuse by Danish artists.

A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 60 days’ probation and 80 hours of community service for downloading and uploading content to DanishBytes, including movies, series, TV content, music, and books, as well as comics and audiobooks. In addition to a prison sentence, the verdict was for the confiscation of a desktop PC and a compensation claim of DKK 5,000.

Stream ripping services

Ad fraud

© Denise Jans

© Anthony Delanoix

Educational initiatives

Rights Alliance continuously works to inform the Danes about the importance of rights, and this starts with the children in school. 2022 has offered several initiatives that will help to get knowledge about rights in a digital world out to children and young people in Danish primary schools as well as the teachers who must be equipped to be able to teach respect for rights. That is why Rights Alliance, in collaboration with Lommefilm, completed a film competition for primary school students, and just as importantly, we have started a teaching course that targets future primary school teachers and students at the country’s university colleges. The film competition was completed in 2022 and the teaching of student teachers will continue in 2023.

Film competition in primary school

IN THE SPRING OF 2022, Rights Alliance, in collaboration with Lommefilm, launched a nationwide film competition for 4th-6th graders. 25 school classes took part and, based on the teaching course Share – with care, they competed in making the best film about the subject of rights and why you must take care of your own and other’s rights on the internet. The purpose of the film competition was to get Danish school students to work creatively with complicated

issues such as copyright and consent and thus give them an understanding of why we must protect the content products that creative actors invest time, energy, and money in. The result was 102 films, where the winning class won a trip to Nordisk Film with a tour, lunch, and cinema. The film competition was supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Danish Film Institute and Producer Rights Denmark, and was part of the Share With Care initiative.

In addition, Rights Alliance, again in collaboration with Lommefilm, held

three workshops on 30 August at SVEND Filmdage. Based on the Os Der Elsker Film campaign, three school classes were taken through an hour-and-a-half workshop, where they were equipped with further knowledge about the consequences of watching films illegally - both for themselves, but also to a large extent for the Danish film industry. Here, too, the students had to be creative and produce an alternative commercial for Os Der Elsker Film with inspiration from the campaign’s own commercial. At the end of the day, the best and most creative film was selected, and the winning class won a trip to the cinema.

2022 WAS ALSO THE YEAR in which the Rights Alliance training course TRAIN was initiated with its first workshop. In line with the continuous development of the internet, there is a great need to educate new generations about how digital content must be approached with respect and consideration. It is crucial that this becomes a natural part of teaching in the Danish primary school. Therefore, the purpose of the course is to teach student teachers at the country’s university colleges about IP rights and to give them the tools to teach about this in primary school and promote the legal use of digital content. TRAIN is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Dreyers Fond and organized in collaboration with Copydan Tekst & Node, Copydan AVU-medier, Hans Reitzels Forlag and professor of copyright Morten Rosenmeier.

The first TRAIN workshop took place at the university college UC Syd in Esbjerg in December 2022. It is the first of five planned workshops that will continue into 2023. Thus, TRAIN has been launched after planning and developing the curriculum and presentation material. The material is designed in such a way that teachers for future student teachers will be able to use the material without the participation of Rights Alliance, and thus it is also intended that the teaching process should eventually be able to be repeated with new cohorts and educational institutions.

TRAIN

© Fahrul Azmi

Events

Rights Alliance has hosted many events seminars, and member meetings, which the illegal market, protection of rights,

• Meeting on Dialogue Forum in collaboration 11 March

• Rights Alliance was involved in the (Internet Governance Forum) half-day Danish Industry with the Danish Business

• Follow-up meeting on the illegal market May

• Seminar on illegal sharing of textbooks tion, 8 June

• 3 webinars in collaboration with the the protection and enforcement of

• UBVA symposium on IPR protection the symposium, the CEO of Rights a presentation that went in depth on November

• Seminar at Kromann Reumert on regulation sibility for a legal internet. 17 November

Events

events in 2022, covering both webinars, which have provided information about rights, and the work of Rights Alliance.

collaboration with the Ministry of Culture,

the organization of the Danish IGF 2022 half-day seminar at the Confederation of Business Authority as organizer, 10 May market in collaboration with DFI, 31 textbooks at the Danish Authors’ Associa-

the Confederation of Danish Industry on of design rights

protection of architecture and design. For Alliance, Maria Fredenslund, gave on IPR violations and punishment. 3

regulation of tech companies’ responNovember

©Rights Alliance, 2023