This study by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market and the European Patent Office found that intellectual property rights (IPRs) make significant contributions to employment, GDP, wages, and trade in the European Union. Some of the key findings include:
- IPR-intensive industries, defined as those using a high number of IPRs per employee, accounted for 26% of EU jobs directly and 35% total including indirect jobs.
- These industries contributed 39% of EU GDP totaling over €4.7 trillion annually from 2008-2010.
- Wages in IPR-intensive industries were over 40% higher on average than in other industries.
- IPR-intensive industries accounted