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October 24, 2024

Strong Copyright Law Matters: The International Perspective

by Sydney Blitman

Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) was established nearly 40 years ago to champion strong copyright protections in overseas markets. IIPA is a private sector coalition, formed in 1984, of trade associations representing U.S. copyright-based industries working to improve copyright protection and enforcement abroad and to open foreign markets closed by piracy and other market access barriers. Members of IIPA include: Association of American Publishers (AAP), Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), Motion Picture Association (MPA), and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Nearly every person regularly consumes some form of creative content – whether a video game, a book, a movie, a song, or a television show. The ecosystem of creators and consumers is not confined to the United States. Creators reside in every country and creativity is a tie that binds all of humanity. Creative works like music, movies, books, and video games travel the world and transcend geographical barriers, flowing both out of the U.S. and in from abroad. Films produced in Nigeria, literature written in Brazil, pop music recorded in Korea, and video games developed in Finland are often enjoyed by consumers in the United States. Strong copyright enforcement and legislative frameworks, both in the United States and in foreign markets, are critical to incentivizing the production and dissemination of these creative materials, which bring enormous educational, cultural, entertainment, and economic value to the lives of people around the world.

The benefits of strong copyright protection and enforcement to American creators, producers, and workers are demonstrated in IIPA’s December 2022 update of its comprehensive economic report, Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The 2022 Report, prepared by Secretariat Economists, Inc. According to the 2022 Report, in 2021, the “core” copyright industries in the United States: (i) generated more than $1.8 trillion of economic output; (ii) accounted for 7.76% of the entire economy; and (iii) employed approximately 9.6 million workers, which is nearly 4.9% of the entire U.S. workforce and over 5.5% of total private employment in the United States. The jobs created by these industries are well-paying jobs; for example, copyright industry workers earn on average 51% higher wages than other U.S. workers.

The IIPA 2022 Report also broke new ground by measuring the copyright industries’ significant contributions to the U.S. digital economy, as that concept was defined by the federal government. In 2021, the core copyright industries accounted for 52.26% of the U.S. digital economy and 48.1% of U.S. digital economy employment, even though the government’s digital economy definition does not encompass the full range of the copyright industries’ digital activities. In addition, according to the 2022 Report, the core copyright industries outpaced the U.S. economy, growing at an aggregate annual rate of 6.15% between 2018 and 2021, while the U.S. economy grew by 1.76%. When factoring in other industries that contribute to the copyright economy (which together comprise what the 2022 Report calls the “total” copyright industries), the numbers are even more compelling.

Additionally, the 2022 Report highlights the positive contribution of selected copyright sectors to the U.S. overall trade balance. Given the importance of digital delivery to the copyright-based industries, this sector has the potential to multiply its export revenues if our trading partners provide strong copyright-protective environments and allow the creative industries to fairly compete. In 2021, these sectors contributed $230.3 billion in foreign sales and exports, exceeding that of many other industry sectors, including chemicals, pharmaceutical and medicines, agricultural products, aerospace products and parts, and food and kindred products 

The U.S. copyright industries face complex challenges in overseas markets, including inadequate copyright and related laws, insufficient and ineffective enforcement of existing copyright and related laws, and market access barriers that inhibit the licensing and dissemination of copyrighted works and sound recordings. IIPA engages with U.S. and foreign government officials to address these challenges and open foreign markets for U.S. copyrighted materials. For example, IIPA has participated in the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) annual Special 301 Review every year since it was established under the 1988 Trade Act. IIPA also participates in the country review process of trade preferences programs such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act; trade initiatives such as the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity; the annual report of implementation of World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments for both China and Russia; the National Trade Estimate; and the annual list of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.

IIPA has seen real results from these efforts. In the last year alone, for example, the Indian government retracted a measure that created destabilizing uncertainty for rights holders who streamed content in India, and the Vietnamese government took action to remove a notorious infringing website operating out of Vietnam—Fmovies.to, the “world’s largest piracy ring” – that had been causing so much harm to rights holders.

The ecosystem of creators and consumers is truly global. The U.S. economy depends on a thriving copyright sector to create jobs, increase exports, and expand economic output. Part of what separates the U.S. economy from other markets around the world is the uniquely diverse array of stories, content, and ideas that are accessible from international sources – this supports the broad dynamism and rapid expansion that the U.S. economy boasts. Likewise, the health and competitiveness of our trading partners’ economies also depend on protecting and enforcing copyrights and taking other steps to open their markets to products and services that depend on copyright. Taking these steps will foster jobs, benefit workers, increase cultural diversity, promote international trade and exports, increase tax revenues from legitimate businesses, and attract more foreign direct investment.

If you aren’t already a member of the Copyright Alliance, you can join today by completing our Individual Creator Members membership form! Members gain access to monthly newsletters, educational webinars, and so much more — all for free!

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