Harvard Study Says Weak Copyright Benefits Society

An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist summarizes an important new study on file sharing from economists Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf. The Harvard Business School working paper finds that given the increase in artistic production along with the greater public access conclude that 'weaker copyright protection, it seems, has benefited society.' The authors point out that file sharing may not result in reduced incentives to create if the willingness to pay for 'complements' such as concerts or author speaking tours increases."

Comments

Re:in today's America

[gnupun]

Laws are also passed to protect the minority (artists) from exploitation by the majority (art consumers). The current copyright laws benefit both artists and consumers and are more or less fair.

Re:Flawed logic

[Jaysyn]

"The real reason is the cost of producing and distributing art has dropped due to new software for creating the art and using the web for distribution"

Listen to your pompous ass. I'm sure you know the "real reason" oh so much more than the social scientists that actually performed & analyzed the study. Would you please, kindly STFU.