Copyright: Fuel for the Economy

Today, the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) released a new report – Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy – The 2016 Report – on the economic impact of copyright-dependent industries through 2015. According to the newly released report, those industries contributed an incredible $1.2 trillion to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015.

These “core copyright industries,” as the report calls them, employ more than 5.5 million workers across the United States, with an average yearly income of $93,221 – or $1,792 per week. From a global perspective, sales of U.S. recorded music, television, video and motion pictures, software, newspapers, books and periodicals in international markets amounted to $177 billion.

The report also mentions that growth within core copyright industries far surpasses the average growth rate for other industries; in fact, between 2012 and 2015, those industries grew “at a rate of more than 127% greater than the remainder of the economy.”

Back in September, we published a blog post discussing how in addition to being the driving force behind the creation of new and innovative works of art, copyright is also a huge boost to the economy: to the tune of $954 billion, to be exact. That post looked at a report issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Economics and Statistics Administration, which focused on job creation, income, and GDP attributable to industries “responsible for the creation or production of copyrighted materials” through 2014. In addition to examining industries responsible for creation and production of copyrighted works, the new IIPA report also accounts for those industries involved in distributing and exhibiting copyrighted material, providing a more complete picture of the value that copyright adds to the economy.

Average weekly earnings: $1,701 $1,792/week. Gross domestic product: $954 billion $1.2 trillion.

Promoting the progress of science and the useful arts: Priceless.

iipa-infographic-the-copyright-economy

photo credit: bluebay2014/iStock/thinkstock

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