Fueled by an insatiable global demand for American movies, music, and computer software, copyright industries have outpaced most other leading industries in contributions to the U.S. economy, job creation, and foreign sales, according to an intellectual property trade association report released Dec. 16.
But the growing economic clout of the creative industries is matched by their increasing vulnerability to IP piracy here and abroad, industry officials said. The report, “Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The 1999 Report,” was prepared by Economists Inc. for the International Intellectual Property Association, a coalition of groups representing over 1,350 U.S. companies that create and distribute copyrightable materials around the world.
