Copyright industries become an engine for economic growth

A visitor takes picture of a robot which can talk in the 5th China International Copyright Expo in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Wednesday. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/www.ming7.cn]

More than three decades of reform and opening up to the outside world have seen a rapid development in China of key sectors of the copyright industries such as literature, art, radio, film and television, arts and crafts, computer software and information network, said Yan Xiaohong, deputy chief of the National Copyright Administration of China, on Monday.

Addressing the International Forum on Copyright, Creativity and Development held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Yan said some of the copyright industries have become new economic growth points and pillars of economic development. The latest statistics available show that the output value of the country's copyright industries accounted for 6.67 percent of GDP.

Organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with the NCAC, the forum drew participants from the United States, India, Korea, Kenya, Russia, Mexico and Thailand.

In her welcome address, WIPO Deputy Director-General Wang Bingying said copyright had become the engine of growth for many countries.

Research by WIPO in more than 40 countries shows that creative industries including copyright industries contribute an average of 5.2 percent to the GDP of each country and 5.4 percent to the employment rate, she said.