The previous research has not reached a consensus on whether the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) stimulates innovation, especially in the digital era. And due to the lack of exogenous variation of copyright statute, solid evidence on the causal effect of copyright protection is...

Accounts of the ‘copyright industries' suggest that strong intellectual property rights help creative firms. However, mounting evidence from sectors such as video game production and 3D printing indicate that business models based on open IP can also be profitable. This study investigates the...

The Copyright Act grants authors and users a set of entitlements in copyrightable works. It is questionable whether and to what extent authors and users can reallocate these rights by entering into legally enforceable contracts. The Seventh Circuit’s historic decision in ProCD, Inc v...

In February 2008, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy declared his intention to extend the European copyright term for sound recordings by 45 years, from 50 to 95 years. The announcement overturned the recommendations of two recent independent reviews on the issue. One was conducted...

Modern copyright law is based upon a theory: increase copyright protection and you increase the number of creative works available to society. This theory has been the driving force behind an economic vision that has expanded, beyond all recognition, the original law created by the Statute of...

This paper examines an environment where original content can be remixed by follow-on creators. The modelling innovation is to assume that original content creators and remixers can negotiate over the ‘amount’ of original content that is used by the follow-on creator in the shadow of various...