White Bullet representatives today signed the EU Commission’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on online advertising and intellectual property rights (IPR), along with many advertising stakeholders.

The initiative seeks to minimise ad funded IP infringement by requiring advertisers and brokers to avoid placement of ads on websites and apps that infringe copyright or disseminate counterfeit goods. It recognises that these illegal platforms use the sale of advertising as a significant source of revenue.

Advertising is often the sole source of revenue for these illegal operators, and damage is being caused to consumer confidence and brand equity by inadvertently placing ads on these illicit websites and apps. The loss of tax revenue caused by pirate and counterfeit vendors is also harming governments.

The sheer scale of ad-funded digital IP infringement has led to action by the EU Commission, underlying the importance of IP protection online.

The signatories to the MOU recognise the widespread damage to economic growth that is being caused and are signalling their intent to fix the issue.

White Bullet embraces this agreement and has launched a free Global Piracy Index to help keep brand and advertising agencies compliant with some of the key terms of the MOU.

Globalpiracyindex.com is a freely accessible list of websites that have court orders against them relating to IPR infringement and launches this week. The Global Piracy Index also includes any websites listed in infringing website list (IWL) initiatives from around the world.

Pirate websites are constantly changing domain names and using other tactics to avoid detection and circumvent law enforcement. It is no surprise to learn that the vast majority of pirate websites have no court orders against them.

To truly ensure all steps have been taken to minimise ad misplacement, White BulletIPI Index™ can be integrated into the advertising operations of brands and agencies.

White Bullet's IPI Index™ evaluates all websites and not just those adjudicated by courts or enforcement bodies. It uses real time assessment and machine learning to analyse and score websites for IP infringement risk, evaluating over 400 data points and specialist criteria validated by IP owners, IP lawyers, and law enforcement.

There are currently millions of domains scored in the IPI Index, making the IPI Index™ the global standard for online IP risk assessment.

The IPI Index™ provides full protection against ad misplacement on pirate websites and offers a cost effective solution to protect brands.