IPPA Study: Copyright Industries Critical to U.S. Economy

Posted on 8/14/2009 by Julia Dudnik Stern | Printable Version | Comments (1)

A late July study from the International Intellectual Property Alliance shows that U.S. copyright industries continue to lead the economy in their contributions to job growth, gross domestic product and exports. Though the study does not take into consideration recent economic events, it does demonstrate an encouraging, consistently upward progression of revenues and other growth indicators over a five-year period, highlighting the need for stronger laws and their enforcement.

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Copyright © 2009 Julia Dudnik Stern. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Comments

Jim Pickerell Posted Aug 14, 2009
These figures may be somewhat misleading as the revenue generated by "copyright industries" includes the gross revenue collected from photography, music, newspapers, magazines, books, software, fine art, etc -- all the products that are copyrightable. However, in many cases the actual creators of the copyrighted works are receiving a declining share of the gross revenue collected while the publishers, distributors and other middlemen take a larger and larger share of the gross fee paid by the customer.

I'm not claiming that all middlemen are gouging creators, and or that they are taking an unfair share of what customers pay. Their cost of doing business have gone up, and they must try to find some way to recover those costs. Nevertheless, it is usually the creator who loses in these transactions. The creator needs the middleman in order to make his product available to the consumer. The middleman sells at a price the "market will bear" and structures his share to cover his costs and generate a reasonable profit. The remainder, no matter how meager, is the creators share.

Don't be led into thinking that a growth in the sale of copyrighted material means a growth in revenue for creators.

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