Strong and Enforced Intellectual Property Rights Protect Consumers and Families. Strong IP rights help consumers make an educated choice about the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of their purchases. Enforced IP rights ensure products are authentic, and of the high-quality that consumers recognize and expect.
Intellectual property (IP) contributes enormously to our national and state economies. Dozens of industries across our economy rely on the adequate enforcement of their patents, trademarks, and copyrights, while consumers use IP to ensure they are purchasing safe, guaranteed products. We believe IP rights are worth protecting, both domestically and abroad. This is why:
Intellectual Property Creates and Supports High-Paying Jobs IP-intensive industries employ over 55 million Americans, and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Jobs in IP-intensive industries are expected to grow faster over the next decade than the national average. The average worker in an IP-intensive industry earned about 30% more than his counterpart in a non-IP industry The average salary in IP-intensive industries pay $50,576 per worker compared to the national average of $38,768.
Intellectual Property Drives Economic Growth and Competitiveness America’s IP is worth $5.8 trillion, more than the nominal GDP of any other country in the world. IP-intensive industries account for over 1/3– or 38%– of total U.S. GDP. These industries also have 72.5% higher output per worker than the national average, valued at $136,556 per worker. IP accounts for 74% of all U.S. exports- which amounts to nearly $1 trillion. The direct and indirect economic impacts of innovation are overwhelming, acounting for more than 40% of U.S. economic growth and employment.