According to the recent report prepared by the Economics and Statistics Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Commerce Secretary, John Bryson, points out that almost every US Company depends on intellectual property (IP) i.e. copyrights, patents and trademarks to run their business. The protection and dissemination of creative works, which depend heavily upon IP, support about 28% of the workforce. Thus companies must protect their IP rights which are their life blood or their competitive advantage. The inability to protect IP is a leading cause of failure for many companies. Intellectual property rights may be needlessly at risk if companies become engaged in costly IP litigation, which can easily reach millions of dollars in expenses, not to mention any assessed damages.
Obtaining insurance specific to this exposure leaves working capital to be used to grow, capture market share and maintain profitability. Then if a company finds itself in court, as a plaintiff or a defendant, the funds are available to thoroughly and vigorously litigate. Needless to say, the lack of obtaining insurance to protect a company’s intellectual property could lead to the loss of its IP rights, incurring burdensome royalty payments under licensing agreements, being forced to settle or going out of business.
There are many advantages to companies being informed about the existence of IP insurance, such as enabling them to ensure that their most valuable asset is protected. Companies can demonstrate that they can fight to the end of an IP case on the merits, and not run the risk of going out of business or being forced to drain their working capital to pay legal fees to enforce IP rights or defend their current operations.
Surprisingly, despite the established value and availability of the policies, many companies from start-ups to Fortune 500s are still unaware that IP insurance exists. Equally surprising is the number of companies who mistakenly assume they are covered for IP risk under their general liability policies. Intellectual property insurance ensures that companies have the money available to maximize their chances of winning on the merits of the case. More importantly, companies will have the ability to flourish and grow thus creating more jobs and a stronger economy.
To give you an example of the extent to which you’re being misled by this ‘report’:
“According to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the motion picture and sound recording industry’s value-added share of GDP was 0.4% in 1995 and 0.4% in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available.”
“According to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the motion picture and sound recording industry’s value-added share of GDP was 0.4% in 1995 and 0.4% in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available.”
This article is deliberately misleading, conflates legitimate counterfeiting concerns with entertainment industry lobbyists’ wants, and then tries to suggest that the entertainment industry is shrinking and represents an outsize share of the economy.
The overall entertainment industry has grown more than 2/3 since 1998 with employment increasing 20% and amount of content being produced greatly increasing. Consumer spending on entertainment as a proportion of income has increased by double digits. And perhaps most importantly the *artist share* of revenue is up by double digits in every category most especially from licensing and live performances.
The sky isn’t falling for anyone other than a few legacy businesses who haven’t kept up with technology. The future of entertainment is brighter than ever. High quality content is easier and cheaper to create than ever, and access to millions of viewers is inexpensive and no longer requires a gatekeeper.
The article cites $775 BILLION of exports and $5 TRILLION of GDP from ‘IP intensive industries’ right before it talks all about the entertainment industry, piracy, and why we need to impose US law on foreign nations and create a global regulatory regime to control the flow of information on the internet. Know that the *otal* entertainment industry (not just exports!) is only 14% of their cited export figure. They are including anything with any sort of copyright, trademark or patent– cars, trucks, machines, medicines, consumer goods, and likely even foods grown from patented seeds. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that censorship and public & private monitoring of the internet for ‘infringement’ isn’t necessary to protect things like machinery, vehicles, healthcare/pharma and agriculture. Sure we need to prevent physical counterfeits. But to conflate this legitimate problem with ‘internet piracy’ in an attempt to impose all sorts of monitoring and liability schemes is disingenuous and frankly it is unpatriotic and downright un-American.
I would encourage you to view this Congressional Research document. This is real data. It is convincing. Not only is the entertainment industry not dying but it is thriving and companies are pulling in record profits and record ROE. The CEOs of these companies are taking home $30 million each a year. ROE is up significantly from a decade ago.
I urge each and one of you to educate yourselves on this topic of critical importance. Our very future is under direct attack. Any attempt to stifle communication on the internet or impose liabilities on third parties (exactly how China created its ‘Great Firewall’) is a direct threat to liberty. The industry has written bill after bill and bought legislator after legislator in an attempt to get control of the Internet.
Please write your legislators in opposition to CISPA which is the latest attempt to erode your rights.
The government and private industry will scream about ‘piracy’. They will scream about ‘child porn’ and ‘cyber security’. They will say ANYTHING to scare you into letting them take away more of your rights. Don’t listen to the propoganda. Look for the facts and call B.S. as you see it. And contact your reps!!! They will not keep backing this special interest garbage if you make it clear they will not be re-elected if they do.
FYI: The I.J. article cites the Department of Commerce report. My rebuttal also cites the Department of Commerce’s own figures. The entertainment industry statistics also originated from the industry itself.
According to the recent report prepared by the Economics and Statistics Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Commerce Secretary, John Bryson, points out that almost every US Company depends on intellectual property (IP) i.e. copyrights, patents and trademarks to run their business. The protection and dissemination of creative works, which depend heavily upon IP, support about 28% of the workforce. Thus companies must protect their IP rights which are their life blood or their competitive advantage. The inability to protect IP is a leading cause of failure for many companies. Intellectual property rights may be needlessly at risk if companies become engaged in costly IP litigation, which can easily reach millions of dollars in expenses, not to mention any assessed damages.
Obtaining insurance specific to this exposure leaves working capital to be used to grow, capture market share and maintain profitability. Then if a company finds itself in court, as a plaintiff or a defendant, the funds are available to thoroughly and vigorously litigate. Needless to say, the lack of obtaining insurance to protect a company’s intellectual property could lead to the loss of its IP rights, incurring burdensome royalty payments under licensing agreements, being forced to settle or going out of business.
There are many advantages to companies being informed about the existence of IP insurance, such as enabling them to ensure that their most valuable asset is protected. Companies can demonstrate that they can fight to the end of an IP case on the merits, and not run the risk of going out of business or being forced to drain their working capital to pay legal fees to enforce IP rights or defend their current operations.
Surprisingly, despite the established value and availability of the policies, many companies from start-ups to Fortune 500s are still unaware that IP insurance exists. Equally surprising is the number of companies who mistakenly assume they are covered for IP risk under their general liability policies. Intellectual property insurance ensures that companies have the money available to maximize their chances of winning on the merits of the case. More importantly, companies will have the ability to flourish and grow thus creating more jobs and a stronger economy.
To give you an example of the extent to which you’re being misled by this ‘report’:
“According to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the motion picture and sound recording industry’s value-added share of GDP was 0.4% in 1995 and 0.4% in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available.”
“According to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the motion picture and sound recording industry’s value-added share of GDP was 0.4% in 1995 and 0.4% in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available.”
This article is deliberately misleading, conflates legitimate counterfeiting concerns with entertainment industry lobbyists’ wants, and then tries to suggest that the entertainment industry is shrinking and represents an outsize share of the economy.
The overall entertainment industry has grown more than 2/3 since 1998 with employment increasing 20% and amount of content being produced greatly increasing. Consumer spending on entertainment as a proportion of income has increased by double digits. And perhaps most importantly the *artist share* of revenue is up by double digits in every category most especially from licensing and live performances.
The sky isn’t falling for anyone other than a few legacy businesses who haven’t kept up with technology. The future of entertainment is brighter than ever. High quality content is easier and cheaper to create than ever, and access to millions of viewers is inexpensive and no longer requires a gatekeeper.
The article cites $775 BILLION of exports and $5 TRILLION of GDP from ‘IP intensive industries’ right before it talks all about the entertainment industry, piracy, and why we need to impose US law on foreign nations and create a global regulatory regime to control the flow of information on the internet. Know that the *otal* entertainment industry (not just exports!) is only 14% of their cited export figure. They are including anything with any sort of copyright, trademark or patent– cars, trucks, machines, medicines, consumer goods, and likely even foods grown from patented seeds. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that censorship and public & private monitoring of the internet for ‘infringement’ isn’t necessary to protect things like machinery, vehicles, healthcare/pharma and agriculture. Sure we need to prevent physical counterfeits. But to conflate this legitimate problem with ‘internet piracy’ in an attempt to impose all sorts of monitoring and liability schemes is disingenuous and frankly it is unpatriotic and downright un-American.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=108204821
I would encourage you to view this Congressional Research document. This is real data. It is convincing. Not only is the entertainment industry not dying but it is thriving and companies are pulling in record profits and record ROE. The CEOs of these companies are taking home $30 million each a year. ROE is up significantly from a decade ago.
I urge each and one of you to educate yourselves on this topic of critical importance. Our very future is under direct attack. Any attempt to stifle communication on the internet or impose liabilities on third parties (exactly how China created its ‘Great Firewall’) is a direct threat to liberty. The industry has written bill after bill and bought legislator after legislator in an attempt to get control of the Internet.
Please write your legislators in opposition to CISPA which is the latest attempt to erode your rights.
The government and private industry will scream about ‘piracy’. They will scream about ‘child porn’ and ‘cyber security’. They will say ANYTHING to scare you into letting them take away more of your rights. Don’t listen to the propoganda. Look for the facts and call B.S. as you see it. And contact your reps!!! They will not keep backing this special interest garbage if you make it clear they will not be re-elected if they do.
FYI: The I.J. article cites the Department of Commerce report. My rebuttal also cites the Department of Commerce’s own figures. The entertainment industry statistics also originated from the industry itself.