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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
  • Press release
  • 22 June 2018
  • Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
  • 1 min read

Stepping up efforts against counterfeiting and piracy: first EU Blockathon and new industry agreement

The EU Blockathon 2018 will be closed on Monday 25 June by Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, who will attend a Q&A session. The Blockathon will bring together the world's most talented teams of coders (programmers) to co-create the next level anticounterfeiting solutions for consumers, enforcement authorities, logistic operators and companies.

Building on the success of previous industry-led agreements facilitated by the Commission, the Memorandum of Understanding will bring together advertisers, advertising intermediaries, technology providers and associations to curtail the revenue that websites and mobile applications infringing copyright and disseminating counterfeit goods obtained through online advertising.

These initiatives follow on from the measures presented last November to ensure the protection of Europe's know-how and innovation leadership.

You can follow the opening and closing ceremonies (respectively at 11.00am on Friday and 9.00am on Monday) live here.

Winners of the Blockathon will be announced during the closing ceremony and the results published here.

More information on the MoU on online advertising and IPR can be found here from time 12.15pm CET on 25 June.