INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

U.S. movie studios, drug manufacturers and other companies that depend heavily on copyrights, patents and trademarks to protect their creative works support 40 million jobs, or about 28 percent of the U.S. workforce, a U.S. report said on Wednesday.

 

“Today we have a clearer picture than ever before just how important IP (intellectual property) protection is to American jobs,” U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson said at an event to unveil the first-of-its-kind government survey. Nearly 35 percent of U.S. gross domestic product – or more than $5 trillion – comes from 75 IP-intensive industries that directly employ about 27 million people and support about 13 million other jobs in related industries, the report said. IP-intensive industries also account for about $775 billion worth of U.S. exports, or roughly 61 percent of total U.S. goods exports, and pay wages that are 42 percent higher on average than wages in other industries, the report said.

 

U.S. business and labor groups welcomed the study, which they said bolstered the case for strong action at home and abroad against piracy and counterfeiting of U.S. goods ranging from music and movies to medicine and auto parts. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said digital piracy has caused “countless” job losses in the heavily unionized media and arts sectors. The report found that “virtually every U.S. industry” relies on intellectual property protections, either directly or indirectly, Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said. U.S.

 

 IP jobs are clustered primarily in the West Coast, the East Coast and in the upper central Midwest. The most IP-intensive states are California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts,

Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire, the report said.

MANAGING REPUTATION DAMAGE TAKES

As companies and organizations ponder risk transfer solutions to indemnify lost revenue and profit stemming from reputation and brand damage, experts say effective crisis management remains an essential part of mitigating such risks. Insurance that covers the loss of revenue and profit attributed to a change in consumer perception of an organization's brand because of a crisis is an element of reputation risk coverage, said Randy Nornes, executive VP with Aon Risk Solutions. “The reality is if you've damaged a brand and someone paid you for the financial loss, you still have a damaged brand and there's not enough insurance in the world to make you whole again because your business is basically damaged now,” Mr. Nornes said.

 

Many insurers offer reputation risk policies that include services from crisis management and public relations firms at a prenegotiated rate to assist the company or organization in the event of a crisis.
Proper crisis communication can mitigate the overall financial impact of an adverse event, said Simon Barker, a senior reputation risk and crisis