Publication: A Novel Dataset Measuring Change in Copyright Exceptions
February 17, 2023
A new paper by PIJIP Post Doctoral Fellow Michael Palmedo has been published in the Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues. "A Novel Dataset Measuring Change in Copyright Exceptions" presents survey data collected through PIJIP's Global Network on Copyright User Rights that can be used to compare the strength of copyright limitations and exceptions across countries and over time. An earlier version of the paper had been published as a PIJIP working paper.
Full Paper:
http://serci.org/rerci_files/2022/palmedo.pdf
Abstract
Copyrights grant creators long periods of market exclusivity during which they or their agents have the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute their works. However, copyright exceptions limit their scope and strength. National laws governing copyright exceptions vary substantially from one country to the next. This paper introduces a novel, survey-based dataset that describes changes to 26 countries’ laws on copyright exceptions over time. To explore the data, I construct two indices from subsets of the dataset; one focusing on exceptions related to internet communications technologies (ICTs) and another focusing on exceptions related to educational uses. The indices show that copyright exceptions have grown more robust since 1990, and that wealthier countries tend to have more developed exceptions than poorer ones. Initial empirical tests suggest that exceptions related to ICTs are more robust in countries with larger ICT sectors but less robust in countries with larger copyright sectors. Exceptions for educational uses are more robust in countries with higher educational attainments.