Copyright and Generic Entry in Book Publishing

Taking works off copyright promotes their availability, but it also allows generic entry to dissipate producer surplus. This paper examines the effect of a copyright on the availability and price of books when incentives to create new works are not affected. Evaluating the welfare impact of the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, I find that a copyright significantly limits the availability of works, leading to a decrease in consumer surplus, which is significantly larger than any increases in profits to copyright holders. Without changing incentives to create new content, the copyright extension was economically inefficient. (JEL L11, L17, L82, O34)

In search for support for the extension of copyright term under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

Purpose One of the binding commitments under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is the extension of the copyright term to 70 years after the death of the author. This paper reports the preliminary findings of a research on the potential impact of the extension of copyright term on the music industry in Malaysia. As Malaysia is a user and net importer of intellectual property, it is feared that extending the copyright term will likely impede incentives for the creation of new contents, increase the cost of licensing/royalties, diminish the choice and creativity of film and music industry and increase royalty payments abroad. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the commercial lifespan of copyright works is long enough. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative research method, in-depth interviews were carried out with key industry players between June and September 2015 to collect relevant information from the industry. The information obtained was analysed to gauge the market standing of the local music industry and how the proposed extension would bolster their financial and market power. The paper does not intend to explore the legal implications from the retrospective extension of copyright term and data on illegal use and piracy. The findings of the research will be purely drawn from the non-structured interviews and information gathered from respondents. Findings The paper concludes that there is not enough evidence to support the notion that the copyright extension will be economically advantageous to the local music industry. Research limitations/implications The feedback from the interviews, although cannot be generalised to be considered as representing the whole music industry in Malaysia, can nevertheless be taken as preliminary conclusions and an eye-opener to the quest for concrete support in the debate for the extension of the copyright term in Malaysia. The paper also does no explore the legal implications from the retrospective extension of copyright and data on illegal use and piracy. Practical implications In conclusion, more studies need to be conducted to understand the dynamics and needs of the music market in Malaysia for the extension of the copyright term to be really beneficial to them. As this study is only conducted using a qualitative research method, using open-ended and in-depth interview techniques on a small group of respondents, there may be a need to embark on empirical research with proper execution of survey instruments to a larger group of respondents. Social implications The music industry is chosen as the case study because it may develop into a potential export interest. The music industry as a small component of the larger “creative industry” has been identified as one of the new economic drivers under the Tenth Malaysia Plan. Originality/value The paper was first presented at the ATRIP Congress 2015 at Cape Town on 27th September 2015. The paper has not been published. No studies have been done on the possible implications of copyright extension term on the music industry in Malaysia before.

New Threats to Intellectual Freedom

This chapter explores the growing threats to intellectual freedom through the loss of the information commons in the U.S. as a direct result of advances and changes in technology and laws. In particular, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act are considered, as is the 2003 Federal Communications Commission ruling on media consolidation. When these laws are combined with current technological developments, intellectual freedom faces serious threats. As a foundation in a democratic society, consumers should take heed of this growing erosion of rights and access to information.

New Threats to Intellectual Freedom

This chapter explores the growing threats to intellectual freedom through the loss of the information commons in the U.S. as a direct result of advances and changes in technology and laws. In particular, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act are considered, as is the 2003 Federal Communications Commission ruling on media consolidation. When these laws are combined with current technological developments, intellectual freedom faces serious threats. As a foundation in a democratic society, consumers should take heed of this growing erosion of rights and access to information.

Natural Authority in Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit and the Copyright Act of 1842

This essay argues that Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (1843) challenges the legal justifications underpinning Sergeant Talfourd's 1842 Copyright Extension Act. The novel does so by problematizing the logic of natural right, a logic adopted by proponents of copyright to defend further copyright extensions. Martin Chuzzlewit's narrator attacks natural right through his representations of inheritance, repeatedly demonstrating how heirs subvert and appropriate testators' natural rights, and thus proving natural right to be a subjective, and even fictional, construct that can be adopted in potentially unjust ways. By destabilizing the logic of natural right, the narrator exposes the ways in which promoters of copyright employed inheritance as a metaphorical tool that allowed them to rationalize copyright extensions, and, in so doing, he threatens the institutions of inheritance, copyright, and authorship. Such a radical critique of intellectual property places Martin Chuzzlewit's narrative voice in conflict with Dickens's political persona and Dickens's avowed political aims, ultimately harming Dickens's, and other authors', own interests. In accounting for the paradoxical logic of natural right, however, Martin Chuzzlewit's narrator offers the most nuanced account of the problems of intellectual property that emerged in mid-nineteenth-century Britain.