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Verein für Anti-Piraterie der Film- und Videobranche

VAP

Seit seiner Gründung 2003 setzt sich der Verein für Anti-Piraterie der Film- und Videobranche (VAP) engagiert für die Rechte von österreichischen Film- und FernsehproduzentInnen, ihre Verwertungspartner, Zulieferer der Filmbranche und Kreativen ein.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Assessment of the effects of the Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events

28 May 2025

The Austrian content protection organisation VAP (Verein für Anti-Piraterie der Film- und Videobranche) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Commissions assessment of the 2023 Recommendation on combatting online piracy of sports and other live events. VAP supports the Recommendations objectives and urges the Commission to recognise the urgency and seriousness of the wider problem of online piracy and address the entire audiovisual piracy ecosystem. Please find attached our answers to the individual questions defined in the EC Call for Evidence document.
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Response to Evaluation of the Geo-blocking Regulation

10 Mar 2025

On behalf of VAP, the national content protection association in Austria representing film & media companies and sectoral organisations, it is essential that the film and audiovisual sector continue to remain exempt from the Geo-blocking Regulation. The ability and freedom to deploy geo-blocking which enables rightsholders to license rights on a territory-by-territory basis remains essential for businesses - including SMEs - across Europe to secure funding for content development, organising the optimal marketing, distribution and exploitation (theatrical, physical carriers, broadcasting and online) of all types of film and audiovisual content. Our industry is unique in that significant upfront investment is required before any of the expenditure can be recouped. Licensing on a territory-by-territory basis - adapting to national and regional market realities- offers the optimum chance for these investments to be matched by earnings and for financing to be invested in future content. Theatrical distribution - with a 2024 Gross Box Office of EUR 6.6 billion in Europe - is a vital component of our cultural and creative economy. We support the European Commission's drive to strengthen European competitiveness and our sector is an integral element of the equation. In addition, lifting the geo-blocking exemption for the film/av sector would lead to significant legal uncertainty in the protection and enforcement of copyrights. Including the film and audiovisual sector in the Geo-blocking Regulation will clash with the European Commission's ambition to promote European businesses and ease the burden of red tape. Complementing this comment, please refer to the 2023 Joint Statement (https://shorturl.at/pBzoV) signed by more than 700 organizations and entities across Europe demonstrating the clear and unambiguous call to ensure the continued exclusion of audiovisual services from the Geo-blocking Regulation. Find attached the International Federation of Film Distributors' and Publishers' Associations (FIAD) submission which we support.
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Response to Fighting against online piracy of live content

10 Feb 2023

The Austrian Antipiracy Association for the Film and Video Sector, VAP, welcomes the Commissions recognition of the urgency and seriousness of the problem of online piracy and the need for functioning injunctions. Such measures require appropriate safeguards, and injunctions must be targeted, proportional and in compliance with net neutrality provisions. We ask the Commission to include an explicit clarification that siteblocking of access to structurally IPR-infringing sites is compatible with net neutrality provisions. This clarification is necessary to prevent excessive administrative proceedings by national regulating authorities. Such proceedings are unwarranted in connection with legitimate, swift and effective measures by rightholders to fight and disable piracy networks. In addition, such long running proceedings demand vast legal resources to defend obviously legitimate site blocking measures. Please see attached overview of the legal aspects and decisions on the blocking of piracy sites which underscore the legitimacy and permissibility of blocking in the context of Open Internet regulations to ensure effective and balanced judicial redress.
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Response to Digital Services Act: deepening the Internal Market and clarifying responsibilities for digital services

30 Jun 2020

VAP represents the audiovisual sector in Austria in matters of content protection. Our focus is the enforcement of the rights of SMEs against commercial-scale copyright infringement online and the development of a level digital playing-field for legitimate businesses. As a partner of the online economy and at the same time an essential source of cultural and creative product, we advocate an amendment to the E-Commerce Directive to strengthen the obligations of online platforms and to clarify the regulations for online services. We consider that the Digital Services Act (DSA) can significantly contribute to improving safety online for consumers and businesses in all sectors, thus strengthening the digital single market. The regulation of online intermediaries lies at the core of a reliable and safe online market. As gatekeepers for online transactions and service/infrastructure providers to all online parties, intermediaries are best placed in the digital supply chain to hinder unlawful activity. Efforts to address abuse, fraud and commercial-scale online infringement must address all categories of online intermediaries. Especially the essential role the infrastructure intermediaries play in the ecosystem and their comprehensive inclusion as „new digital services“ (if not yet covered by specific legislation) is crucial to an effective Digital Services Act. We also urge including companies not established in the EU, but which provide their services to EU consumers and businesses. Furthermore, the DSA must assert increased accountability for online intermediaries regarding business users of their services. A cross-cutting and targeted measure that is critical to dealing with a wide range of online harms is the creation of “duty of care” obligations making it impossible for EU-based hosting, payment, advertising, domain name, and proxy service providers (such as Cloudflare) to do business with unidentified commercial entities. The E-Commerce and Consumer Rights Directives already lay down information obligations for commercial online operations. Nevertheless, countless commercial websites with fraudulent and infringing business practices targeting EU consumers and businesses ignore the most basic information requirements and falsify or obfuscate their identity (with the help of anonymization or proxy services) to evade detection. In the absence of incentives for compliance with information obligations – including sanctions for non-compliance – the digital space remains permissive and intransparent. This is not only a severe threat from a safety perspective: the direct costs and indirect losses to the European economy through various forms of cybercrime, including commercial-scale piracy and illicit trade, amount to billions of Euros and grow annually (see studies by the European Parliament, EUIPO, OECD, UNICRI, among others). EU regulations in several areas already explicitly invoke the collaboration of online intermediaries in enforcement measures to identify and hinder bad faith operators - regardless of whether the intermediary service has an active or passive role - for example, in the areas of consumer protection cooperation, market surveillance and anti-money-laundering. Obliging business users to reveal their identity on the internet is compliant with data protection rules and would automatically lead to a reduction of illegal or harmful online content. By addressing this legislative gap and vital link in the digital supply chain, the Digital Services Act can significantly contribute to improving safety online for consumers and businesses in all sectors, thus strengthening the digital single market. [Full statement attached]
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Response to Measures to further improve the effectiveness of the fight against illegal content online

30 Mar 2018

VAP represents the audiovisual sector in Austria in matters of content protection (representing >200 employees in the sector). We welcome the Commission's efforts towards a functioning system of preventing and removing illegal content online for a safer online environment. Rightly, the Recommendation (C (2018) 1177 final) identifies internet intermediaries as being in the best-placed position to prevent the dissemination of illegal content and explicitly invokes their duty of care to act. Based on the experience of the creative sectors regarding the online availability of IPR-infringing content, VAP strongly suggests adopting Option 2 of the Inception Impact Assessment, namely: Horizontal legislation addressing targeted issues. Our attached statement outlines our reasoning for the preferred Option 2.
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Response to Modernisation of the regulations establishing a .eu top level domain name (REFIT)

12 May 2017

VAP is the content protection organisation for the Austrian audiovisual industry active and national, European and international levels. From our negative experience of organised and profit-driven illegal activities on the Internet, we hereby call attention to the following issues for consideration in your policy development. Regarding domain registration with the TLD .eu, we advise utmost caution regarding loosening of standards under the auspices of "modernisation". For example, the direct sale to registrants - and any registration for that matter - should only be possible in connection with verifiable data, subject to independent third party verification if necessary. The .eu domain is reputable and the registry eurID has established Terms and Conditions to prevent deceptive registration information, but it must also enforce its own rules unequivocally in order to uphold European values. The reason for this recommendation lies in the prevention of abusive practices by certain commercial-scale operations acting in bad faith and for unlawful purposes (eg. fraud, counterfeiting, piracy). With the obvious intention to mislead, such registrants provide fake contact information and obfuscate their identity through layers of anonymising/privacy services. Thereby they abuse the liability privileges for internet service providers (including domain registries) to prevent detection and prosecution. Europol identifies this issue as a major obstacle to law enforcement online (ref. Europol IOCTA 2016 report) and EUIPO research on IPR-infringing websites (see attached file) has also collected evidence of this problem. While most criminal actors seek out rogue services that provide safe havens for illegal activity (so-called "bulletproof hosting"), unfortunately, there are isolated instances of infringing sites registered with legitimate domain registries (eg. a major commercial-scale copyright-infringing site is registered with eurID under false pretenses). In the interest of safety and the protection of consumers and legitimate businesses, we therefore urge that the suggestion to "change the eligibility criteria for registrants" not preclude serious due diligence ("know your customer" obligations). Concerning Internet Governance, we welcome the suggestion of increased contribution to the global development of the Internet. The EU is an important voice in the multi-stakeholder approach to building digital trust and security through responsibility and ethical behavior.
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