Strong IP key to US jobs and GDP and innovation

For instance, in the United States, the Department of Commerce has estimated that IP-intensive industries support at least 45 million jobs and contribute more than $6 trillion (38.2 percent of) U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).46 Likewise, the aforementioned 2021 joint EUIPO/EPO study shows a strong, positive correlation between IPR and economic performance.47 It states that “IP-owning firms represent a significantly larger proportion of economic activity and employment across Europe,” with IP-intensive industries contributing 45 percent of GDP (€6.6 trillion, or US$7.9 trillion).48 The study also shows that IP-intensive industries directly or indirectly contribute to 38.9 percent of European employment, and IP generates higher wages and greater revenue per employee, especially for SMEs.49 Elsewhere, Statistics Canada has reported that 18.2 percent of all Canadian businesses hold some form of IP, predominantly trademarks.50 Of those IP-owners, 19 percent have a female as the primary decision-maker, and 10.1 percent have an Indigenous primary decision-maker. Canada also boasts that 47.8 percent of businesses in the clean technology industry and 47.8 percent in its information and cultural industries own at least one form of IP. Similarly, reports from IP Key, EUIPO, the International Trademark Association (INTA), and others also highlight these trends in Latin America. The reports find that, in 2019, IP-intensive industries’ contributions were 41.9 percent of GDP in Argentina, 47.8 percent in Mexico, 48.9 percent in Uruguay, 49.9 percent in Chile, and 55 percent in Peru.51 Trademark-intensive industries alone accounted for an average of 18 percent employment and a 19 percent wage premium in an INTA study of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.52 These figures underscore the reality that robust IPR and protections fuel high-value-added, innovation-based economic growth in nations worldwide.