New Report Highlights the Threat IP Continues to Face Worldwide

Yesterday was World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, which marked the importance of IP and its positive impact on the global economy.  The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) continues to be a staunch advocate of strengthening IP protections at home and abroad. TPA marked World IP Day by highlighting the widespread support for IP from countries all over in a 2015 coalition letter addressed to the World Intellectual Property Organization.

However, as another World IP Day was marked by great examples of the strides being made to encourage innovation in the global market, it is important to recognize that threats to IP still exist and they must be dealt with in order to move toward a better climate for creativity. Recently, TPA wrote about how taxes and IP violations intersect, whether it’s through digital piracy or government mandated initiatives like plain packaging. Taxes are evaded when content is pirated, and that impacts businesses, consumers, and taxpayers.

A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD), titled Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods, Mapping the Economic Impact, detailed some of the real problems creators and innovators face around the world in protecting their content. The report also shows the annual worldwide cost of IP.

According to the OECD report:

• Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports,
• The total value of imported fake goods worldwide was $461 billion in 2013 (total imports in world trade of $17.9 trillion),
• Up to 5% of goods imported into the European Union are fakes,
• In many cases, the proceeds of counterfeit trade go towards organized crime,
• Most fake goods originate in middle income or emerging countries,
• Postal parcels are the top method of shipping bogus goods, accounting for 62% of seizures over 2011-13

These findings should raise a number of red flags to those in the creative community who want to ensure that their innovations are encouraged and protected. But the report should also be a warning sign to governments as they see an erosion of revenues because of these counterfeited or pirated goods.

Demonstrating the importance of IP, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today, “Counterfeits and Their Impact on Consumer Health and Safety,” which will feature testimony from leading experts from both a policy and consumer perspective as it relates to counterfeited products.  This hearing will undoubtedly be informative and helpful for those in the Senate who want to protect IP for the benefit of taxpayers, consumers and businesses, as well as the creative community.

It is important to recognize the progress that has been made in protecting IP, both in the public and private sector. TPA will continue to promote the protection of IP in the United States and abroad.  It is important that other countries work towards achieving the same creative climate that’s helped so many individuals and businesses in the United States.

But while it is critical to acknowledge the great work being done to preserve the integrity of IP, it is also important to recognize that there are still problems that IP faces everyday.