C&RL News June 2010  322

Computer and Communications 
Industry Association calculates worth 
of fair use

by Kat Walsh, OITP Policy Analyst
How much is fair use worth to the U.S. 

economy? About $4.7 trillion dollars per year, 
according to a study commissioned by the 
Computer and Communications Industry As-
sociation (CCIA). (View the report at www.
ccianet.org/index.asp?sid=5&artid=158&evtf
lg=False.)

The CCIA report, published on April 26, 
tallied the revenues of industries that depend 
on fair use and came up with the colossal 
number, a 36 percent increase over revenues 
from 2002. Jobs in those industries rose from 
16.9 million to 17.5 million, or one out of 
eight U.S. workers. The study considered 
industries such as electronics, media, finance, 
and education as dependent on limitations 
and exceptions to copyright.

In a panel on April 27, Representative Zoe 
Lofgren (D-CA), American University profes-
sor Peter Jaszi, CCIA President and CEO Ed 
Black, and study authors Thomas Rogers 
and Andrew Szamosszegi from Capital Trade 
used the study to launch a discussion on the 
economic importance of fair use. 

“Gaps in copyright aren’t a bug,” Jaszi says, 
“they’re a feature.” Technological innovations 
that weren’t anticipated by copyright law 
depend on limitations and exceptions: the 
DVD player, the copy machine, TiVo. Cultural 
productions depend on the ability to criticize 
and reference other works. Schools would 
be stifled without exceptions for educational 
use and research. 

Another study by the Center for So-
cial Media (www.centerforsocialmedia.org 
/resources/publications/clipping_our_own 
_ w i n g s _ c o p y r i g h t _ a n d _ c r e a t i v i t y _ i n 
_communication_research/) on copyright and 
communication research shows how copy-

right concerns affect research. And, of course, 
without fair use, libraries would be unable 
to fulfill their mission of making information 
accessible to all.

It may seem outlandish to describe the 
value created by fair use as the total revenues 
from every industry benefiting from copyright 
limitations. But it raises the question: Why it is 
reasonable to claim the value of copyright, as 
so many do, as all revenue from industries that 
benefit from protection? (It is no mistake that 
these are often the same industries.) Lofgren 
urged the United States not to overlook the 
immense economic value created by limita-
tions to copyright and to recognize it in public 
discourse and public policy. Arguments about 
preserving freedom and good governance 
don’t always win over Congress, she said, but 
compelling economic arguments often do.

The CCIA study comes on the heels of one 
released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 
Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC). 
(View the report at www.theglobalipcenter.
com/pressreleases/new-study-demonstrates 
-importance-intellectual-property-rights 
-american-jobs-and-compe.) GIPC reports that 
“IP-intensive” industries have driven growth, 
job creation, international trade, and R&D 
spending. But it then asserts that stronger IP 
enforcement and protection is needed to spur 
further growth—a conclusion that seems to 
have no support in their findings.

One thing both studies makes clear is that 
information and ideas are driving the 21st- 
century economy, creating tremendous value. 
The current administration has been only too 
ready to use this knowledge as justification for 
even more restrictive IP policies. (One such 
example is Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agree-
ment (ACTA), an international trade agreement 
currently being negotiated that would require 
trading partners to have strong IP enforcement 
policies.) The CCIA study needs to find its 
way to decision-makers, and challenge their 
assumptions about what’s really needed for a 
culture of innovation and growth. 

Jenni Terry is press officer at ALA’s Washington Office, 
e-mail: jterry@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eJenni Terry

june10b.indd   322 5/27/2010   9:16:08 AM