Study puts U.S. losses from piracy at $58b

The total more than doubles the size of earlier estimates, which focused soles on direct losses to copyright producers and distributors.

The new study, conducted by Economists, Inc., analyst Steven E. Siwek, looked at losses incurred by related industries.

Among the highlights:

• The U.S. economy loses $58 billion annually;

• U.S. workers lose 373,375 jobs;

• U.S. workers lose $16.3 billion in earnings annually, including $7.2 billion in earnings from workers in the copyright industry or “downstream” retail industries, and $9.1 billion in earnings by workers in other U.S. industries; and

• The U.S. government loses at least $2.6 billion in tax revenues annually, including $1.8 billion in personal income tax and $800 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.

IPI will hold a news conference Wednesday during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Fourth Annual Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit in Washington to formally unveil the report.

The full report can be obtained here.