The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) is a lobbying organization established to combat audiovisual piracy across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. It represents companies involved in providing protected audiovisual services, security technologies for such services, and products that facilitate delivery of these services. AAPA’s mission centers on leading the fight against piracy by effective lobbying, supporting law enforcement agencies, and building partnerships between public and private sectors to curb unauthorized distribution and use of audiovisual content.
AAPA operates through collaboration among its members, hosting focused working groups addressing key issues such as hosting infrastructure, disruption of piracy, policy and regulation, social media, training and awareness, communications, applications, and artificial intelligence. The alliance maintains formal cooperation with international law enforcement bodies like Europol, INTERPOL, and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), providing expert advice, training, and operational support in anti-piracy efforts.
Advocacy efforts by AAPA target various European Commission Directorates-General, including DG GROW, DG CONNECT, DG TAXUD, DG TRADE, as well as international organizations such as WIPO. The alliance promotes dialogue and interaction to establish and enforce effective anti-piracy legislation, emphasizing the need for clearer regulations and better enforcement, especially in the digital domain, such as through updates to the Digital Services Act (DSA). Recent industry meetings and studies reveal limited progress in reducing piracy without stronger legislative action, prompting AAPA to call for mandatory regulations and broader obligations for intermediaries like Internet Service Providers.
The consortium’s members include rights owners, broadcasters, and technology providers united to share knowledge, lobby for better legal frameworks, and support enforcement actions. Through training, awareness campaigns, and technological cooperation, AAPA aims to reduce the significant economic harm piracy inflicts on the audiovisual sector, ensuring that content cr
