A Growing Chorus of Over 70K Americans Tell U.S. Elected Officials: Copyright Drives Creativity and Innovation

Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture Partner in Support of Copyright & Creative Communities

Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA – Today, the Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture – two organizations that strongly support creative communities by working to protect and encourage respect for copyright law – sent an open letter to elected officials signed by over 70,000 creatives and those who support them.

The letter recognizes that the internet is both a powerful and democratizing force, but also stresses the intrinsic need for a strong copyright system that rewards creativity and promotes a healthy creative economy. Regardless of political affiliation, strong and effective copyright is not a partisan issue. Instead, copyright benefits our entire country and creative ecosystem. The letter also discusses the complementary relationship between a strong copyright system, free expression, creativity, innovation, and technology.

To bring awareness to the letter and their missions, Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid and CreativeFuture CEO Ruth Vitale recently co-authored an op-ed highlighting the economic impact of copyright and the creative industries. Specifically, in 2016, core copyright industries (film, television, music, radio, books, photography, newspapers, and software in all formats) added more than $1.2 trillion of value to the U.S. GDP, accounting for 6.88% of the U.S. economy, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance.

“Without a strong copyright system, creatives’ rights would be compromised undermining their ability to earn a living and support their families. Copyright creates jobs and protects creativity. These letters from the creative communities demonstrate that strong copyright protections should be an important priority for our current and future leaders,” said CreativeFuture CEO Ruth Vitale.

Added Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid, “Creators and copyright-dependent industries contribute significantly to our economy, while also shaping our culture and society through creativity and innovation. Our nation’s copyright laws form the foundation of American leadership in the creative economy. We cannot allow our elected officials and other policymakers to lose sight of the value copyright brings to all Americans.”

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About the Copyright Alliance

The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest and educational organization representing the copyright interests of over 1.8 million individual creators and over 13,000 organizations in the United States, across the spectrum of copyright disciplines. The Copyright Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, and to protecting the rights of creators and innovators. For more information, please visit www.copyrightalliance.org.

About CreativeFuture

CreativeFuture is a coalition of 490 companies and organizations and over 110,000 creative individuals encompassing film, television, music, photography, and book publishing. CreativeFuture promotes the value of creativity, expanded digital access to legitimate content, and the fundamental right of creatives to determine how their works are distributed. To learn more, visit www.creativefuture.org.

For media inquiries, contact:

Eileen Bramlet

VP Communications

ebramlet@copyrightalliance.org

571.228.1906

Cesar Fishman, CreativeFuture:

cesar.fishman@creativefuture.org

323-591-3002

You can download the pdf version of this statement here.