Global Innovation Policy Center

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes intellectual property as a fundamental human right.

Patents provide property rights to the inventor to ensure continued innovation and improvements in innovation.

74% of exports– or $1 trillion– are driven by American IP-intensive industries. (Global Intellectual Property Center: “IP Creates Jobs for America,” NDP Consulting, May 2012.)

IP-intensive industries contribute $5.8 trillion to U.S. output, making up 38% of total U.S. GDP. (Global Intellectual Property Center: “IP Creates Jobs for America,” NDP Consulting, May 2012.)

China continues to be the number one source country for counterfeit and pirated goods seized, accounting for 62% or $124.7 million of the total domestic value of seizures. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

There are a total of 75 diverse U.S. industries classified as “IP-intensive.” (“Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy,” Department of Commerce, April 2012)

Rogue websites selling counterfeit luxury goods receive nearly 36 million visits per year. (MarkMonitor, Traffic Report: Online Piracy and Counterfeiting, January 2011.)

Rogue websites selling counterfeit physical goods attract more than 87 million visits per year. (MarkMonitor, Traffic Report: Online Piracy and Counterfeiting, January 2011.)

Rogue websites generate more than 53 billion visits per year. (MarkMonitor, Traffic Report: Online Piracy and Counterfeiting, January 2011.)

MarkMonitor estimates that global sales of counterfeit goods via the Internet from illegitimate retailers will reach $135 billion. (MarkMonitor, “Seven Best Practices for Fighting Counterfeit Sales Online.” September 2010.)

G20 governments and consumers lose $125 billion annually, including losses in tax revenue, from counterfeiting and piracy. (Frontier Economics, Estimating the Global Economic and Social Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, February 2011.)

Digital piracy costs the global economy $75 billion annually. (Frontier Economics, Estimating the Global Economic and Social Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, February 2011.)

Domestic production and consumption of counterfeit and pirated products costs our economy $215 billion annually. (Frontier Economics, Estimating the Global Economic and Social Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, February 2011.)

Counterfeit and pirated products account for $360 billion in losses in international trade annually. (Frontier Economics, Estimating the Global Economic and Social Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, February 2011.)

The global economic value of counterfeiting and piracy amounts to $650 billion annually. (Frontier Economics, Estimating the Global Economic and Social Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, February 2011.)

In 2008, IP-centered companies in the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors generated nearly $7.7 trillion in gross output, accounting for 33.1% of total U.S. gross output. (Nam Pham, Employment and Gross Output of Intellectual Property Companies in the United States, NDP Consulting, January 2011.)

Reducing the piracy rate in the United States by 10 percentage points in two years would add more than $52 billion to the country’s gross domestic product by 2013, an amount close to last year’s corporate profits for all US manufacturing of durable goods. It would meanwhile boost US tax revenues by more than $8 billion. (“BSA and IDC Global Piracy Software Study,” Business Software Alliance & IDC, May 2010)

Reducing the piracy rate for PC software by 10 percentage points in four years would create $142 billion in new economic activity — more than 80 percent accruing to local industries — while adding nearly 500,000 new high-tech jobs and generating roughly $32 billion in new tax revenues. (“BSA and IDC Global Piracy Software Study,” Business Software Alliance & IDC, May 2010)

If this quicker pace of reducing software piracy were repeated in all 42 countries studied, it could produce $193 billion in new economic activity by 2013 and generate $43 billion in new tax revenues. (“BSA and IDC Global Piracy Software Study,” Business Software Alliance & IDC, May 2010)

Globally, IDC estimates that the piracy rate for PC software last year was 43 percent, meaning that more than four out of 10 software applications installed on PCs were unlicensed. The commercial value of all that unlicensed software totaled more than $51 billion. (“BSA and IDC Global Piracy Software Study,” Business Software Alliance & IDC, May 2010)

Among the 27 tradable industries, only six industries reported trade surpluses—five of which were IP-intensive industries, generating an average $14.6 billion in trade surplus each year. (“The Impact of Innovation and the Role of Intellectual Property Rights on U.S. Productivity, Competitiveness, Jobs, Wages and Exports,” NDP Consulting, 2010)

From 2000-07, IP-intensive industries made up nearly half of output and sales of all 27 U.S. tradable industries and employed more than 30 percent of American workers in all 27 tradable industries. (“The Impact of Innovation and the Role of Intellectual Property Rights on U.S. Productivity, Competitiveness, Jobs, Wages and Exports,” NDP Consulting, 2010)

Copyrights help ensure that new works by artists are encouraged and ensure compensation for their life’s work.

On average, IP-intensive industries pay 30% higher wages, at $50,576 per worker, compared to the national average of $38,768. (Global Intellectual Property Center: “IP Creates Jobs for America,” NDP Consulting, May 2012.)

IP-intensive industries directly and indirectly supply 55.7 million U.S. jobs, 46% of private sector employment. (Global Intellectual Property Center: “IP Creates Jobs for America,” NDP Consulting, May 2012.)

IP-intensive industries directly and indirectly supply 55.7 million U.S. jobs, 46% of private sector employment. (Global Intellectual Property Center: “IP Creates Jobs for America,” NDP Consulting, May 2012.)

27.7% of total U.S. jobs stem from IP-intensive industries (“Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy,” Department of Commerce, April 2012)

G20 economies have lost 2.5 million jobs to counterfeiting and piracy. (Frontier Economics, Estimating the Global Economic and Social Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, February 2011.)

IDC calculates that the $45 billion worth of unlicensed PC software in the 42 countries covered in the U.S caused total losses of revenue, employment and taxes from related sectors in excess of $110 billion. (“BSA and IDC Global Piracy Software Study,” Business Software Alliance & IDC, May 2010)

The Census Bureau reports that the number of IP-intensive production workers during 2000-07 averaged 9.5 million, equal to about 65 percent of total employment in all United States’ tradable industries. During this time, all but three U. S. tradable industries cut jobs. Pharmaceuticals, information software, and medical equipment—each an IP intensive industry—added them. (“The Impact of Innovation and the Role of Intellectual Property Rights on U.S. Productivity, Competitiveness, Jobs, Wages and Exports,” NDP Consulting, 2010)

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, there were 14,841 intellectual property rights (IPR) seizures with a domestic value of $260.7 million (M). (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2009)

In the UK, research from Harris Interactive in 2009 highlighted that nearly one in four P2P file-sharers (24%) typically spend nothing on music, while finding an overlap of legal and illegal downloading among some file-sharers. (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Digital Music Piracy Report 2010, January 2010)

Despite the continuing growth of the digital music business – with trade revenues up 12% to an estimated US$4.2 billion in 2009 – illegal file-sharing and other forms of online piracy are eroding investment and sales of local music in major markets. (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Digital Music Piracy Report 2010, January 2010)

The cost of one product adulteration or counterfeiting incident averages between 2 and 15 percent of yearly revenues, depending on company size; this could translate to a $400 million impact for a large company, or a $60 million impact for a small company. (Grocery Manufacturers Association and A.T. Kearney, “Consumer Product Fraud: Deterrence and Detection”, January 2010)

From 2010 to 2011, there has been a 44% increase in seizures for health and safety products, at a value of more than $60 million. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

Nearly one third of foreign IP infringement complaints take at least one year to be resolved through the United States International Trade Commission. (Congressional Joint Economic Committee, The Role of Intellectual Property Theft on the Economy. August, 2012.)

Nearly one third of foreign infringement complaints take at least one year to be resolved through the United States International Trade Commission. (Congressional Joint Economic Committee,The Role of Intellectual Property Theft on the Economy. August, 2012.)

Trademarks help consumers identify the brands they trust and avoid the dangers of counterfeit goods.

Trademarks are distinctive marks that allow the public to identify the source of goods or services.

Patents incentivize heavy investment in R&D for lifesaving pharmaceuticals, green technologies, and breakthrough consumer products.

India and Pakistan both made the “Top Ten Source Countries” this year due to seizures of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical seizures accounted for 86% of the value of IPR seizures from India and 85% of the value of IPR seizures from Pakistan. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

For FY 2011, top categories of IPR-infringing products seized include: pharmaceuticals, health/personal care, eyewear/parts, critical technology components, electronic articles, cigarettes, perfumes/colognes, batteries, exercise equipment, and transportation/parts. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

Consumer electronics became the top commodity seized in 2011 (22%), a title previously held by footwear(9%) dating back to 2005. IPR infringing cellular phones accounted for approximately one third of counterfeit consumer electronics. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

The domestic value of counterfeit pharmaceutical seizures in FY 2011 rose by more than $11 million, an increase of almost 200 %.( Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

In FY 2011, the number of seizures at mail and express courier facilities increased by 16% compared to FY 2010, which represents an overall increase of 84% since 2007. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

The domestic value for seizures in FY 2011 totaled at $178.9 million, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) at $1.1 billion. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

CBP and ICE seizures increased 24 percent from 2010 with a total of 24,792 in 2011. (Customs and Border Protection, Intellectual Property Rights – Seizure Statistics: Fiscal Year 2011)

Rogue websites selling counterfeit prescription drugs generate 51 million visits per year. (MarkMonitor, Traffic Report: Online Piracy and Counterfeiting, January 2011.)

Economic adulteration and counterfeiting of global food and consumer products is expected to cost the industry $10 to $15 billion per year. (Grocery Manufacturers Association and A.T. Kearney, “Consumer Product Fraud: Deterrence and Detection”, January 2010)

According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission counterfeiting is estimated to cost the global automotive parts industry $12 billion a year in lost sales; $3 billion of that total is in the United States. It is also estimated that U.S. auto parts industry lost sales correlates to potentially 200,000- 250, 000 fewer manufacturing jobs. (“Intellectual Property: Protecting Valuable Assets in a Global Market,” MEMA Brand Protection Council, 3rd Edition, June 2009.)

According to the World Health Organization, up to 10% of medicines worldwide are counterfeit—a deadly hazard that could be costing the pharmaceutical industry $46 billion a year. (Balfour, Frederick, Amy Barrett, Diane Brady, Kerry Capell, Paul Magnusson, Carol Matlack, Dexter Roberts, William C. Symonds, and Johnathan Wheatley, “Fakes!,” Business Week, 7 February 2005.)

The U.S.-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest predicts that counterfeit drug sales will reach $75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of more than 90% from 2005. (“Counterfeiting Facts and Stats,” Protection from Brand Infection, CMO Council. 28 April 2009)