Trends of globalisation, the integration of markets and the rise of the Internet economy have made that violations of intellectual property rights (IPRs), such as counterfeiting or Internet piracy, have become more widespread. While there is no shortage of estimates of the scale and impacts of these infringements, there is little consensus on their accuracy or reliability. In absence of a robust evidence base, it is difficult to debate the effectiveness of government efforts to regulate IPRs or address the impacts of infringements
