MUMBAI: With its aim to combat piracy, the Spanish government has decided to launch a new film commission that will focus on protecting intellectual property rights. The commission that will launch by the end of year will consist of members from the judicial system, the Ministry of Culture and the wider film industry.

One of the priorities of the commission will be to repair the fractious relations between Spain‘s internet service providers (ISPs) and rights owners, who have been unable to reach a compromise on how to solve the problem of illegal P2P file sharing in Spain.

Spain is one of the world‘s biggest piracy offenders with an estimated 350 million illegal film downloads in 2008 that cost the Spanish film industry around $1bn (€668m) in lost revenue.

Earlier this year, the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) called on the Spanish government to develop an "effective action plan" to reduce the availability of unauthourised content online and for monitoring the ISPs.