Fair Use Generates Trillions in the US

Tagged: intellectual property laws, US economy, Software, Technology
Source: Ars Technica - Read the full article
Posted: 5 years 22 hours ago


But strengthening the nation's intellectual property laws isn't just a matter of cracking down ever harder, of limiting the limitations and giving increasing power to rightsholders. Fair use and other limitations on copyright themselves generate significant economic activity—$4.7 trillion in 2007.




Doing these kinds of analyses is notoriously imprecise, in some cases amounting to little more than guesswork. Still, the basic idea presented in the study serves as a useful corrective to simplistic views on "strengthening" IP law ("Strengthening IP law for whom?" is the question worth asking), and we agree with CCIA boss Ed Black, who noted in the report:

"We must be careful that any attempt to alter our intellectual property laws not overlook any crucial sectors of the economy... We must therefore safeguard the fair use economy from the unintended consequences of overbroad copyright regulation in order to ensure that technology innovators can maximize their contribution to our nation’s economic health."