Intellectual property is widely recognized as a key driver in modern economies. Very important report recently published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) is showing that industries with above-average ownership of intellectual property rights (IPR-intensive) have generated more then 47% of total economic activity (GDP) in the EU, worth €6.4 trillion.
They employed more then 61 million people in the EU and generated another 20 million jobs in industries that supply goods and services to IPR-intensive industries.
The IPR-intensive industries account for more then 75% of intra-EU trade and generated a trade surplus of €224 billion with the rest of the world.
Finally, IPR-intensive industries pay significantly higher wages then other industries, with a wage premium of 41% over other industries.
IPR-intensive industries are mainly concentrated in the manufacturing, technology and business services.
In regards to SMEs, according to another study done by the EUIPO 93% of such companies with registered intellectual property rights experienced a positive impact on their business resulting from that registration.
Data collected among over 8300 SMEs in all 27 EU Member States are showing that the SME companies experienced following significate positive impacts from the IP registration:
15% of the owners of the registered IP rights reported having suffered from an infringement of the IP rights they own. 89% of these SMEs have taken measures to enforce their rights.
Sources:
Karabdic Kerim, attorney and patent attorney