This study assesses the economic importance of copyright industries to the European
economy and those of individual nations in the year 2000. The copyright industries
are critically important to the European Community because they involve media,
cultural, and knowledge industries. Development in the industries is indicative of
performance in post-industrial society especially where related to the information
society.
The legal protection afforded by the relevant rights i.e. copyright and related rights
allows for the development of a copyright industry that contributed more than €1.2
trillion (€1,200 billion) to the economy of the European Union, produced value added
of €450 billion, and employed 5.2 million persons in 2000. The total gross value
added, which measures wealth added to the economy, represented more than 5.3 % of
the total value added for the 15 EU Member States. In terms of employment, the
industries contributed 3.1 % of total EU employment. As a result of gaps in data that
are normally experienced when using national accounts and employment data from
official international and statistical sources, a complete set of data was unavailable for
study. These problems that arise as a result of these gaps in data are addressed in the
study. The authors estimate that the effect of gaps in data understates the real
contribution of copyright to the European economy by 5 to 10 %.
The copyright industries are divided into 2 parts: 1) core copyright industries that are
based upon the creation, distribution, and sale of copyright products and services (for
example, magazines, motion pictures, recorded music, software), and 2) copyrightdependent
industries that would not exist without the existence of products and
services subject to copyright (for example, television set manufacturers, DVD player
manufacturers, computer manufacturers). Together they combine to form an overall
copyright industry that is among the most important contributor to the European
economy.
This assessment of the contribution of copyright industries to the European economy
focuses on the turnover, value added, and employment provided by the industries.
Turnover provides a measure of the flow of cash into the industries before costs, value
added shows what wealth the industries create for the economy, and employment
indicates the extent to which individuals and society benefit through jobs creation.
The core and dependent copyright industries both make significant contributions but
the core industries are the most important to the European economy.