Scammers and Internet users unlawfully copy and post content that does not belong to them online, known as “digital piracy.” Almost every creative work, including novels, songs, movies, software, and apps, may be pirated online.
While digital piracy is illegal, it is tough to prohibit for many content providers, and the brand abuse is only becoming worse. The illicit uploading and downloading of stolen pirated content accounts for approximately a quarter of all worldwide Internet traffic, according to Dataprot.
Because combating piracy has become increasingly challenging for content owners, having a plan in place to secure material online is critical.
Why Is Digital Piracy Such A Big Deal?
The ease of access to the Internet and the expanding amount of original content to steal have made digital piracy an ever-increasing problem. According to Digital TV Research’s Online TV Piracy predictions, income lost to piracy would exceed $52 billion by 2022.
Though others claim that piracy is beneficial in spreading word-of-mouth, the income loss is not worth it. This is true for large corporations losing millions of dollars and small businesses and content providers losing clients and revenues due to digital infringements.
It is critical to safeguard your material against piracy, regardless of the size of your business or the sort of content you hold.
What Are the Consequences of Digital Piracy?
The detrimental impact of digital piracy extends well beyond the industry leaders who have lost the most money due to stolen material. Piracy has repercussions for content producers, consumers, and society at large.
Piracy has far-reaching social consequences that go beyond content owners and businesses.
Increased piracy generally leads to dwindling IP rights that protect copyright content online, according to a recent EUIPO online Copyright Infringement in the European Union report. It will become increasingly difficult to establish rights over your work if content owners do not take effective action against digital piracy.
How Can Digital Piracy Be Avoided?
While the problem of digital piracy isn’t going away, there are steps you can do to protect your work from being unlawfully duplicated online. To safeguard online material and avoid digital piracy, follow these steps:
Inform Your Audience
Maintain direct and open communication with your audience regarding digital piracy. Make sure your audience understands the bad impact illegally downloaded material has on your business, and teach them how to spot fakes on the Internet.
Your audience will avoid pirated content if you communicate the price, release dates, and other details specific to your brand and content.
Report to Law enforcement
Reporting digital piracy to law enforcement produces an official record of infringement on the Internet, improving the likelihood that the content will be removed. If you find pirated content in Australia, you can report it online.
Revoke DMCA
A DMCA takedown is a formal notification delivered to the pirated content’s uploader and any other relevant contacts. This informs them that the pirated content they have unlawfully posted belongs to you and that it must be withdrawn.
Secure A Copyright
Even if your work is automatically protected by copyright, if it fits the criteria for being classified as copyright content, copyrighting it will make it much easier to monitor and remove infringements online and get them removed when they occur.
Use Anti-Piracy Software
Even the most powerful IP enforcement teams find it practically difficult to effectively protect the material from piracy due to the enormous volume of unlawful uploads on the Internet.
Anti-piracy services like software allow you to track and eliminate piracy on the Internet automatically. Provide a solution that can be scaled Anti-piracy software can quickly detect infringements and stop piracy in its tracks.
Content is always at risk of being stolen and pirated online; therefore, content owners must take precautions to avoid digital piracy. Digital brand protection may assist you in ensuring that your content is safeguarded online at all times.
Since 2022, Cyberwebnic has defended client brands worldwide as a leading digital brand protection company. We are the industry leaders in providing solutions to brand abuse, phishing, malware, social media, and mobile app impersonation security. Contact us for more information.