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Harvard Study Says Weak Copyright Benefits Society

Posted by samzenpus on from the free-is-good dept.

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."

3 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. Other studies tell the same story by Boetsj · · Score: 5, Informative

    A similar study has been conducted before in the Netherlands: Downloading benefits the Dutch economy (in Dutch, Google Translation). This study had been ordered by the department of Education, Culture and Science, the department of Economic Affairs and the Justice department.

    A downloaded movie, CD or game is not equal to a product not sold, say the researchers. Also, "Amongst downloaders of music and film, the percentage of buyers is as high as with non-downloaders, in games, the percentage of buyers even higher. Music downloaders are also more likely to concerts and buy more merchandise. Downloaders buy more games than gamers who never downloaded and movies downloaders buy more DVDs than non-downloaders."

  2. Re:Err.. by AtomicJake · · Score: 4, Informative

    [...], Picasso all died more or less penniless,

    How wrong! Picasso was probably one of the commercially most successful artists. His fortune has been estimated at $50m.

  3. Re:Pointless by T+Murphy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Citation goes to Mark Twain I believe.

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