Pirated online content, counterfeit purchases up

An impressive 62% of Greeks aged between 15 and 24 lead the pack in Europe among those that knowingly purchased counterfeit consumer goods in the last year, according to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). 

The trend has picked up across Europe during the course of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Indicatively, the new survey confirmed that 37% of young people in the EU bought one or several counterfeit products intentionally, compared to just 14% in 2019, in the the pre-pandemic era.

Overall, more than half (52%) of the European youth surveyed had bought at least one counterfeit product online over the past year, intentionally or by accident, and a third (33%) had accessed illegal content online.

Greece maintains the highest percentage of deliberate use of pirated content, at 25%, compared to the European average of 21%.