Congresswoman Claims 'Fair Use' And 'Transparency' Are Just 'Buzz Terms'

We've mentioned Rep. Marsha Blackburn a few times on this site. She's one of the RIAA's favorite elected officials, who apparently hates government interference in markets... except if it's intellectual property laws. She seems unable to recognize the irony of attacking attempts to regulate the internet via telecom policy (net neutrality is picking winners and losers), while strongly supporting attempts to regulate the internet and technology via intellectual property law. Of course, that's the government picking winners and losers too, but the winners just happen to be some of her biggest campaign contributors: pharma and the entertainment industries. She's now written an incredible, ridiculous, and almost entirely fact-free article, insisting that the way to drive innovation in this country forward is to increase intellectual property enforcement. The article is so incredibly misleading that it's laugh-out-loud funny at times -- though, I give kudos to whatever poor staffer penned it for her, for including the line "Let’s begin an honest discussion" after paragraph after paragraph of incredibly dishonest discussion. Let's dig in.

Last year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report highlighting how U.S. industries reliant on intellectual property supported more than 55 million jobs, contributed to $5.8 trillion in economic output and accounted for nearly 74 percent of total exports.

Okay, we've discussed and debunked this one before. It's a silly report that doesn't actually come anywhere close to saying what Blackburn claims it says. First off, it's not "industries reliant on intellectual property." It's industries that are defined by the study's authors as being "intellectual property intensive." The language choices here are subtle, but there's an incredibly important distinction. Nothing in the study suggests that IP laws or enforcement are necessary or responsible for the economic output in question. They just lump every industry that has some connection to intellectual property into a giant stew, and then pretend it's all because of IP. That's why grocery stores are the biggest industry in terms of "jobs." Because the report is ridiculous. Stronger IP enforcement doesn't help grocery jobs, but Marsha Blackburn is about to pretend the report she misread says it will. Oh, and I should note that the Chamber of Commerce (and the firm they hire to write these reports, NPD) seem to have wildly fluctuating numbers. Last year's report said these IP intensive industries contributed $7.7 trillion. Just one year later and it's down to $5.8 trillion? And, at a time when both the movie and music industries claimed to be growing? Maybe, just maybe, the numbers in the report are completely bogus.

These figures prove what should be obvious: Strong intellectual property (IP) rights are essential to expanding economic growth and fostering innovation. Without strong IP protections, innovation will diminish and so will America’s economic greatness.

Except, as noted, the figures don't actually say what Blackburn is claiming. They make no statement on whether or not stronger laws and enforcement foster innovation. In fact, studies that actually look at that question appear to show that stronger IP and enforcement often hold back innovation and can be incredibly costly to the US economy. The mistake that Blackburn is making -- either out of ignorance or to be intentionally misleading, is to assume that stronger laws and enforcement are the cause of the economic output, when that's not what the report she's quoting says.

America has always been a society that rewards good ideas and protects property righ