A group of concerned U.S. businesses, academics, and industry stakeholders has joined to help stop the unfair competition that results from widespread theft of Intellectual Property (IP) and Information Technology (IT). The National Alliance for Jobs and Innovation (NAJI) is a non-partisan organization whose mission is to increase awareness of the problem of stolen IP and the negative impact on jobs, innovation, and economic growth. NAJI represents the apparel, manufacturing, and technology industries, and is comprised of more than 100 U.S. companies and associations, including AIMS 360, Marlin Steel, Microsoft, and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Every year, firms around the world steal billions worth of IP. In particular, the theft of IT, which is critical to manufacturing, is estimated to cost more than $63 billion a year in commercial software value alone. While NAJI recognizes this is a global problem, and all companies need to play by the same rules and pay for their IP, the organization’s focus is on educating the U.S. public about the problem and how it affects American business as well as economic growth.
Key Statistics
- IP-intensive industries directly accounted for 27.1 million American jobs, or 18.8% of all employment in 2010 (Source: U.S. Department of Commerce report on “IP and U.S. Economy” 2012)
- The manufacturing sector accounts for 11.7 million jobs nationwide, or nearly 11% of private sector employment (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011)
- Between 2001 and 2010, the U.S. lost nearly 30% of its manufacturing jobs. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001-2010)
- In 2010 alone, manufacturers in the U.S. spent nearly $95 billion on Information Technology (IT), which is a critical component of research and development and production (Source: IDC United States Black Book 2Q11, 2011)
- More than $63 billion worth of software was stolen last year globally (Source: BSA Global Software Piracy Study, 2011)
- A global piracy reduction by 10% in four years would result in more than $37 billion in added U.S. GDP, $6.2 billion in U.S. tax revenue and 25,000 new U.S. jobs (Source: BSA Piracy Impact Study, 2010)