Report: Core Copyright Industries Add $1.3 Trillion To US Economy 07/12/2018 by Emmanuel Legrand for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Core copyright industries have contributed more than $1.3 trillion to US gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, and accounted for 6.85% of the US economy. They employed nearly 5.7 million workers in 2017, accounting for 3.85% of the entire US workforce, or 4.54% of total private employment in the United States, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA)’s “Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The 2018 Report.” The report, the 17th since the IIPA started compiling data on US copyright industries since 1990, was penned by Stephen E. Siwek of Washington, DC-based Economists Incorporated. The report divides the copyright industries into four groups: core, with industries whose primary purpose is to create, produce, distribute or exhibit copyright materials (books, newspapers and periodicals, motion pictures, recorded music, radio and television broadcasting, and software in all formats, including video games); partial, which includes industries in which only some aspect or portion of the products they create qualify for copyright protection distribution (fabric, jewellery and furniture, to toys and games); non-dedicated, for industries that distribute both copyright and non-copyright protected materials to businesses and consumers (transportation services, telecommunications, and wholesale and retail trade); and interdependent, with industries that produce, manufacture, and sell equipment that facilitate the creation, production, or use of works of copyrighted matter (manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers of CD players, TV sets, VCRs, personal computers, etc). The report only provides aggregates for each group, and does not provide breakdowns by industries. Taken all combined, US copyright industries account for $2,247.4 billion, with core industries at $1,328.3 billion, partial at $39.9 billion, non-dedicated at $451.4 billion and interdependent at $427.8 billion. Speaking to Intellectual Property Watch, Siwek said that what stood out in this year’s report was that “the growth rate of the copyright industries continues to be enormous.” He noted that the copyright economy was growing at a faster rate than the national economy between 2014 and 2017: 5.23% for the core copyright economy, against 2.1% for the entire US economy. The core copyright industries grew at a rate more than 137% greater than the remainder of the US economy. Siwek also points out to the growth rate of “export” of copyright materials in the world, which are estimated at $191.23 billion in 2017, a 3.92% growth over 2016’s $184.01 billion. Exports were estimated at $164.35 billion in 2014. Exports of copyright materials outperformed foreign sales from other industries such as the electronic industry, agricultural products or chemicals. Data used to evaluate the size of US copyright foreign sales and exports focuses on four core copyright sectors: recorded music; motion pictures, television and video; software publishing; and non-software publications including newspapers, books, and periodicals. “This report demonstrates that the core copyright industries continue to provide value added to US economy and outpace the US economy,” said Stan Pierre-Louis, interim CEO and president of the Entertainment Software Association, a member of the IIPA. Sen. Chris Coons For the IIPA, the report is the occasion to mark the value of copyright-driven economies and the importance of strong intellectual property laws. At a presentation on 6 December on Capitol Hill, the IIPA had convened two senators who champion copyright industries: Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Christopher Coons (D-Delaware). Hatch, who did not seek re-election last November after over and is retiring after over 40 years in office, said it was important to have legislation keeping pace with technology changes. He mentioned two acts he helped draft, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998 and the Music Modernisation Act this year, which is named after him and Congressman Bob Goodlatte. “Our challenge is to keep law relevant with changing technology,” said Sen. Hatch. “Changes are likely to accelerate. In 12, 20 or 30 years from now, we will be consuming content in ways that we cannot imagine, and we will need to continue to update our laws to ensure that creators can continue to be rewarded for their works, and that we can continue to enjoy books, TV shows, movies…” Sen. Coons took satisfaction that the report “makes it clear that core copyright jobs are higher paying jobs and add $1,3 trillion to our economy.” The challenge, he said, was that “in just a few minutes we can find pirate sites where we can find works for free, here and in the rest of the world. We need to continue to modernise the copyright system and make sure that we remain at the cutting edge of the copyright economy.” Sen. Orrin Hatch Jessica Bendinger, who wrote, among other works, the screenplay to the movie ‘Bring It On’, was also present on Capitol Hill to voice the perspective of creators. She explained that she was “devastated” to discover that there were “millions and millions and millions” of links to her movies on the internet, for which neither she nor other people who worked on the movies get compensation. She also alluded to the impact of YouTube on creators. “Despite the popularity of my films on YouTube, none of the actors, nor me, ever received any residuals [from YouTube],” she said. She noted that “copyright is how creators get paid” and that countries with solid copyright legislation provide an environment that “incentivises creators.” The IIPA consists of five member organisations representing over 3,200 US companies producing and distributing copyrighted material: the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its mission is to “advocate with all parts of the U.S. government, the U.S. Congress, foreign governments, and in public fora,” and provide “rigorous legal analysis to support the efforts of its members.” The full report can be found here: https://iipa.org/files/uploads/2018/12/2018CpyrtRptFull.pdf Image Credits: IIPA, Emmanuel Legrand Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related Emmanuel Legrand may be reached at info@ip-watch.ch."Report: Core Copyright Industries Add $1.3 Trillion To US Economy" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.