Forever Minus a Day? Some Theory and Empirics of Optimal Copyright

Rufus Pollock ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The optimal level for copyright has been a matter for extensive debate over the last decade. This paper contributes several new results on this issue divided into two parts. In the first, a parsimonious theoretical model is used to prove several novel propositions about the optimal level of protection. Specifically, we demonstrate that (a) optimal copyright is likely to fall as the production costs of `originals' decline (for example as a result of digitization) and that (b) the optimal level of copyright will, in general, fall over time. The second part of the paper focuses on the specific case of copyright term. Using a simple model we characterise optimal term as a function of a few key parameters. We estimate this function using a combination of new and existing data on recordings and books and find an optimal term of around fifteen years. This is substantially shorter than any current copyright term and implies that existing copyright terms are too long.

Keywords: Copyright; Intellectual Property; Copyright Term; Technological Change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L10 O31 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-02, Revised 2007-08-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino, nep-ipr and nep-pr~
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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