Law and Innovation in Copyright Industries

22 Pages Posted: 21 Jul 2009

See all articles by Matthew J. Baker

Matthew J. Baker

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Brendan Michael Cunningham

U.S. Naval Academy; Eastern Connecticut State University

Date Written: July 19, 2009

Abstract

The impact of copyright law on innovation is a topic of much debate. We use quarterly data on aggregate copyright applications in both the U.S. and Canada to estimate an empirical model of copyright applications. We measure changes in the breadth of copyright protection by tabulating outcomes of important court cases and new statutes pertaining to copyright protection. We find that the flow of applications exhibits a small but significant positive response to court decisions broadening copyright protection. We also find that applications: 1) respond negatively to increases in registration fees 2) move counter-cyclically 3) have a strong seasonal component and 4) may increase as computing technology becomes more widely available.

Suggested Citation

Baker, Matthew J. and Cunningham, Brendan Michael and Cunningham, Brendan Michael, Law and Innovation in Copyright Industries (July 19, 2009). Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 61-82, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1436160

Matthew J. Baker

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Brendan Michael Cunningham (Contact Author)

U.S. Naval Academy ( email )

Department of Economics
589 McNair Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
United States
410-293-6894 (Phone)
508-302-2596 (Fax)

Eastern Connecticut State University ( email )

Willimantic, CT 06226
United States

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