The Court of Justice of Paris has set the precedent for France's first anti-digital piracy laws by ordering Cloudflare to implement specific blocking measures to prevent the illegal transmission of MotoGP 2025. The ruling, issued on March 28, recognizes Cloudflare's triple role as an alternative DNS resolution provider, content distribution network (CDN), and reverse proxy service for the first time in France, setting a key precedent in the fight against audiovisual piracy.

The court decision comes at the behest of the Canal+ group, which reported repeated violations of intellectual property rights related to the unauthorized broadcasting of the motorcycle championship. In response, the court has ordered Cloudflare to apply DNS blocks, suspend its CDN service, and disable the reverse proxy for the infringing sites.

In addition, the ruling contemplates dynamic blocking measures in coordination with the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (ARCOM), which will allow the restrictions to be adapted to new pirate sites that have yet to be identified.

A key precedent in French and European law

The ruling reinforces Cloudflare's interpretation as a technical intermediary that, according to French law, can mitigate infringements of audiovisual rights. The ruling also states that the company failed to demonstrate that the measures imposed are unfeasible or economically disproportionate, thus rejecting its request to limit them.

The judge also stressed that Cloudflare's reverse proxy service acts as a shield between users and the servers hosting the infringing content, facilitating illegal transmission.

This ruling aligns with the Digital Services Act (DSA) of the European Union and reinforces the growing judicial trend of extending technology platforms' responsibility in the fight against online piracy.

International impact and background

Cloudflare has faced similar decisions in other countries for its alleged lack of cooperation in the fight against piracy. This ruling in France strengthens the legal framework for protecting intellectual property rights in the digital environment and could influence future court decisions inside and outside the European Union.

The US company is expected to respond to the court decision in the coming days, while the audiovisual sector celebrates this new milestone in protecting its online content.

The post France's first anti-digital piracy sentence: Cloudflare to block illegal transmissions of MotoGP appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) 1 in 3 Europeans are buying counterfeit products.

The rise of counterfeits comes as technology makes it easier to buy and sell products online. So counterfeit consumption remains a battleground in Europe. For one in three Europeans, it is acceptable to buy such products when the original price is high. 

However, this figure rises to half for young consumers aged between 15 and 24, according to a new study by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). 

This is one of the main conclusions of this research, carried out among 25,824 people over 15 years of age residing in the Member States of the European Union.

Bulgaria, Spain and Ireland are the top three of Europe’s counterfeit  

13% of Europeans surveyed say they have intentionally bought counterfeits in the last 12 months. This figure rises to 26% in the 15-24 age group, double the EU average. On the other hand, in the case of 55-64-year-olds, it falls to 6% and less than 5% among the over-65s.

In the case of Spain, the figure stands at 20%, above the European average. This means that Spain is the second country in the European Union where most counterfeits have been acquired intentionally, behind Bulgaria with 24%. It is followed by Ireland (19%), Luxembourg (19%), and Romania (18%). The lowest rate is in Finland (8%). 

Among the most mentioned reasons to stop buying counterfeits, the main one is that the original products have a lower price, with 43% of the opinions. 

Otherwise, they would not do it. The risk of negative experiences, such as poor quality goods for 27% of people, safety risks for 25%, and penalties for 21%, is also a key factor for consumers to stop buying counterfeits.

The post EUIPO: 1 in 3 Europeans are buying counterfeit products appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.