Innovation Asset Blog

BSA chief: Better IP protection overseas would create more U.S. jobs

In a recent speech before U.S. lawmakers, Business Software Alliance president and CEO Robert Holleyman said greater protection of intellectual property rights overseas could lead to the creation of more jobs in the U.S. economy.

Holleyman told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade that software piracy, in particular, ought to be reduced in fast-growing economies, such as China.

According to Holleyman, overseas companies enjoy an unfair advantage over U.S. businesses when they do not pay for the software applications that they utilize in their operations. If this "unfair advantage" were to end, U.S. companies would be able to achieve increased sales and exports, resulting in job growth.

Preventing the illegal use of software "will certainly create jobs in the U.S. software industry," Holleyman said. "But it will also create jobs in the rest of the economy."

According to Holleyman, "nearly every kind of company" uses software to do business. "When companies in other countries use software to run their operations but don't pay for it, they undercut U.S. companies that do," he said.

Holleyman's remarks were made at a hearing entitled Made in America: Increasing Jobs through Exports and Trade. The session was called by Republican subcommittee chair Mary Bono Mack. 

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.