The net effect of IPR is nearly impossible to quantify.
Beer 16 [Jeremy de; 12/29/2016; The Journal of World Intellectual Property – Vol 19 Issue 5-6; “Evidence-Based Intellectual Property Policymaking: An Integrated Review of Methods and Conclusions”; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jwip.12069]//kaviWaRu
The United States has also undertaken efforts to promote evidence-based IP policymaking. When Congress passed legislation known as the PRO-IP Act, the US Government Accountability Office (US GAO) was directed to provide information on one particular IP issue: quantifying the impacts of counterfeit and pirated goods.1 After careful study, the US GAO (2010) reported that “despite significant efforts, it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the net effect of counterfeiting and piracy on the economy as a whole” (p. 27). Indeed, on examination, the US Government could not substantiate its widely cited estimates of the economic impact of counterfeiting and piracy problems. The PRO-IP Act also mandated the office of an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) to develop strategic policy. In doing so, the “IP Czar”, as she was colloquially known, began with a public call for data and ways to measure IP infringement threats, promoted on the White House blog (Espinel, 2010, pp. 66–8).