For Immediate Release

April 26, 2007

Contact: Judith Platt
Ph: 202-220-4551
Contact: Deidre Huntington
Ph: 202-220-4550

Publishers Join In Celebrating World Intellectual Property Day

Washington, DC, April 26, 2007: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) joined today in celebrating World Intellectual Property Day, co-sponsoring a Capitol Hill event focusing on “Encouraging Creativity.” Along with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Creative and Innovative Economy Center, the Congressional Caucus on IP Promotion and the Prevention of Piracy, the Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus and sister industry organizations, AAP’s participation in today’s celebration highlights the importance of encouraging creativity while protecting the intellectual property rights of the creators.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez will be the keynote speaker at the event, stressing the importance of encouraging creativity to global economic development, health and artistic achievement. The celebration will feature a “Creative Showcase” presented by industry groups, including AAP.

Today’s celebration is intended to raise awareness of the cultural and economic benefits provided by the copyright industries. Those benefits are jeopardized when piracy stifles creative growth. According to industry estimates, the theft of intellectual property cost U.S. book publishers nearly $600 million in 2006, resulting from commercial scale photocopying, illegal print runs, unauthorized translations and CD-R burning of text. AAP President and CEO Pat Schroeder said; “We’re pleased that Congress, the Administration and non-governmental groups are paying such close attention to issues affecting intellectual property-dependant industries. AAP is honored to join today with many others who understand that societies can’t flourish without creativity, and that creativity must be protected or we all lose. Intellectual property protection is one of the most important issues facing American book and journal publishers today, and World Intellectual Property Day highlights that fact. This is an issue that brings us together--across borders, industry sectors, and the political spectrum.”

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.

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