Downloading 'costs 39,000 jobs in the UK'
Illegal downloading of music, films and television cost Britain 39,000 jobs and retail losses of £1.4 billion in 2008, a report has claimed. Across Europe, the impact could add up to 1.2 million lost jobs and £215 billion in lost revenue.
Illegal downloading of music, films and television cost Britain 39,000 jobs and retail losses of £1.4 billion in 2008, a report has claimed. Across Europe, the impact could add up to 1.2 million lost jobs and £215 billion in lost revenue.
The report, commissioned by Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), audio-visual has been endorsed by trade unions representing the EU's "creative industries", as well as the International Actors Federation, producers and audiovisual sector employers.
Today in Brussels they joined forces to urge the European Commission to step up enforcement of intellectual property rights, and to ask MEPs to oppose the legalisation of file-sharing for music and films over the internet.
Labour Euro-MP Stephen Hughes commented: "The mobilisation of key trade unions representing workers in Europe's creative industries shows the gravity of the threat."
John Kennedy, Chairman and Chief Executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, commented: "This study is a new and important indicator of the scope and impact of the piracy problem for Europe."
