Intellectual Property Office
In recent weeks there have been news articles published about the Get It Right from a Genuine Site awareness campaign, which highlights the value of the creative industries to the UK. The awareness campaign was part funded by the government.
As well as the awareness campaign, this initiative incorporates the distribution of educational emails by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which is being funded by rights holders and ISPs. These are being sent to residential broadband subscribers when their internet connection has been used illicitly to share files that contain copyright protected content with others.
This article gives information about the Get It Right from a Genuine Site campaign and explains to consumers the important difference between these educational alerts and letters that broadband users may have received alleging online copyright infringement from other organisations acting on behalf of rights holders. We published guidance about these letters in April 2016.
Get It Right from a Genuine Site campaign
Get It Right from a Genuine Site is a partnership between rights holders, government and ISPs. The awareness campaign has targeted 16-24 year-olds, their parents, grandparents and others responsible for household internet connections, as well as others who influence young peoples attitudes to accessing content. The campaign is to educate consumers about the wide range of legal sources of content available to UK consumers and promoting the value of creative content and copyright which underpins it.
The campaign has now reached 21% of the population and, whilst piracy levels remain constant, it has decreased significantly among those exposed to the campaign.
The educational emails which follow on from the awareness campaign will outline the details of the file alleged to have been shared, such as a song, album, film, TV programme or ebook, as well as the date and time it was shared. The email will also provide links to help the recipient find legitimate sources of content and offer information about how the file that was shared has been linked to their broadband account, resulting in an email.
Recognising an email from the Get It Right campaign
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has previously offered guidance about letters that have been sent by other organisations representing rights holders that allege online copyright infringement. In these cases the rights holders are likely to be seeking compensation for the financial loss they have suffered.
To be sure that you dont confuse a Get it Right email with a copyright infringement letter, Get It Right from a Genuine Site emails will always carry the Get it Right branding and the branding of your ISP that sent the email, and they will never ask for money (compensation) from the broadband account holder.
So if you receive an email from your ISP with Get it Right branding you know is part of the campaign and you should read the advice it contains and in future get your content from legitimate sources.
Answering your questions
This website provides consumers with information about the Get it Right from a Genuine Site campaign as well as links to legal sources of content, both free and paid. It is one of the places that provides resources for consumers who want to understand why they received an educational email from their ISP and what they can do to make sure their account does not infringe copyright again.