China's Copyright Output Value Makes up 5% of GDP

According to estimation by Shen Rengan, vice president of National Copyright Administration, the total output value of China's copyright industry will take up 5 percent of the country's GPD. The recent such proportion in America was 6.53 percent.

Shen did not make a clear comparison of the two figures, but this has revealed that China has actually come close to America in terms of the proportion.

He said that the rights and interests of authors and disseminators must be properly protected and this will help raise their enthusiasm and accordingly promote the development of the copyright industry in China.

Quoting statistics from National Copyright Administration and Ministry of Information Industry Shen says that the output value of books, newspapers and periodicals, audiovisual and electronic products hit 120 billion yuan in 1998 with software products coming to 17 billion yuan. The sum-total of the two topped 140 billion yuan, about 1.8 percent of China's GDP (7.9 trillion yuan in 1998).

The total output value of copyright industry will as estimated make up 5 percent of China's GDP should a complete statistics is made. The statistics data indicate that in 1997, the copyright output value in America was US $529.3 billion, accounting for 6.53 percent of its GDP.

Shen stressed that it is of vital importance for a country to protect and develop copyright industry. He said that in the 20 years prior to 1997 the output value of America's core copyright industry took up an absolute of 24.1 percent of its GDP with its annual growth rate reaching 6.3 percent. This is about two folds the annual economic growth rate in America, a proportion far outstripping that of its car and airplane manufacturing industry.



By PD Online staff member Li Yan


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