Coase and copyright

Coase and copyright

Kreiken, F.H.
Koepsell, D.R.

Technology, Policy and Management

Multi Actor Systems

2013-03-01

The call for more copyright legislation and enforcement is controversial. It requires more state regulation and potentially undermines public values, economic efficiency, and fundamental rights. This seems the way forward because creative industries and governments frame copyright as an ordinary property right. This accords with pre-digital business models: business models based generally on exclusive and rival tokens (a token is an instance of a type or idea—thus, the idea of a chair is a type, whereas each individual chair in the world is a token) of expressions. Since new technologies have made those tokens in many cases obsolete, maintaining the copyright frame troubles the discussion. If we look at copyright as just a use or access right, we might better achieve what copyright was originally intended to do: provide remuneration to artists and allow access to culture and entertainment to the public. Access rights might be a more suitable approach, as Internet trends point toward access to information and because business models concerning access seem to achieve this dual objective of copyright. The harms done by the non-exclusivity and non-rivalness of expressions are an input cost we have to take into account, instead of a signal of market failure. That input cost might very well be high, but benefits are made in other areas and this market shift does not require the same infringement of fundamental values and rights, so it at least merits our attention and research. As transaction costs for digital goods are low, barriers to entry decrease, which could allow for a free and diverse market, if balanced appropriately with regulatory regimes.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:bbd10a0d-35d1-415e-ae1c-5df3f8022783

University of Illinois

1532-3242

Journal of Law, Technology and Policy, (1), 2013

Institutional Repository

journal article

(c) 2013 The Author(s)