EU Commission “follows the money” in fight against IPR infringements

The European Commission recently adopted an action plan to address infringements of intellectual property rights in the EU. The plan sets out a number of actions to focus the EU’s IPR enforcement policy on commercial scale infringements (the so-called ‘follow the money’ approach).

The plan includes a proposition for a dialogue with online advertising agencies and payment service providers to reduce profits from commercial-scale infringements on the internet.

The Commission has also adopted a strategy for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries in order to stem the trade in IPR infringing goods.