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Counterfeiting and piracy cost the U.S. economy between $200-$250 billion per year, a total of 750,000 American jobs (1). |
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On a typical day in fiscal year 2005, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized $329,119 worth of fraudulent commercial merchandise (2).
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According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, of every $10 that U.S. businesses lose through piracy, $5 is lost in four countries: China, Russia, Italy and Mexico. Mexico accounts for 9 percent of those losses. (3) |
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Studies in the past decade have estimated that over 50 percent of U.S. exports now depend on some form of intellectual property protection, compared to less then 10 percent 50 years ago. (4) |
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According to the 2004 edition of Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy, the U.S. newspaper, book publishing, recording, music, periodicals, motion pictures, radio and TV broadcasts, and computer software industries accounted for 6 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, or $626.2 billion, in 2002. (5) |
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| Film and Television: |
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According to a study released on Friday by the Institute for Policy Innovation, movie piracy costs the U.S. economy $20.5 billion per year in lost business, jobs, wages and taxes. (6) |
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| Music: |
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Urban and Latin music represents about 95% of all the counterfeit CDs and DVDs seized in raids in U.S. cities. In 2005, almost 40% of the discs seized were Latin CDs, even though this genre accounts for only 6% of the overall music market. (7)
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| Pharmaceuticals: |
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According to a confidential report by the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, the United States experienced 76 incidents of counterfeiting, diversion and theft of pharmaceuticals in 2004 - the highest reported number in the world ahead of even China and Colombia (8)
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported an almost ten-fold increase in its counterfeit drug investigations, from 6 in 2000 to 58 in 2004. As of 2005 the agency was investigating 91 open cases of domestic counterfeiting that span the nation and involve millions of doses of medicine. (Ibid) |
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Dangerous Doses Fact sheets from Katherine Eban, investigative journalist.
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| Software: |
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The United States has the lowest piracy rate of any other country; however, in 2006, it also lost more than any other country - $7,289 million - to software piracy. |
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