Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald Recent documents in Paul J Heald en-us Sun, 31 May 2009 10:16:39 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald/3 http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald/3 Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:45:03 PST In regularly extending the copyright term of existing works, Congress has relied upon predictions by economists that bad things happen to works that fall into the public domain. Economists claim that as the copyright in some valuable works expires, they will be underexploited and their value dissipated. Other works, it is argued, will be overused or debased by inappropriate uses. This study of the most valuable musical compositions from 1913-32 demonstrates that neither hypothesis is true applied to the exploitation of musical composition in movies from 1968-2007. Combined with an earlier study on books from the same era, grave doubt is cast on the only viable rationales for extending copyright protection in existing works. The absence of predicted market failure is likely due to producer and consumer self-regulation. paul j. heald Intellectual Property Law http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald/2 http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald/2 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:27:45 PDT Some economists assert that as valuable works transition from copyrighted status and fall into the public domain they will be underexploited and their value dissipated. Others insist instead that without an owner to control their use, valuable public domain works will be overexploited or otherwise debased. This study of the most valuable musical compositions from 1913-32 demonstrates that neither hypothesis is true as it applies to the exploitation of songs in movies from 1968-2007. When compositions fall into the public domain, they are just as likely to be exploited in movies, suggesting no under-exploitation. And the rate of exploitation of these public domain songs is no greater than that of copyrighted songs, indicating no congestion externality. The absence of market failure is likely due to producer and consumer self-regulation. paul j. heald Intellectual Property Law http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald/1 http://works.bepress.com/paul_heald/1 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 09:56:35 PST Economists and policymakers have recently defended the extension of copyright protection to assure the efficient exploitation of existing works. They assert that works in the public domain may be under-exploited due to the lack of property rights or over-exploited due to congestion externalities. This study compares the availability, number of editions, and prices of 166 public domain bestsellers published from 1913-1922 with 168 copyrighted bestsellers from 1923-1932. It also compares the 20 most enduringly popular public domain works from 1913-1922 with the 20 most enduring popular protected works from 1923-1932. A significantly higher percentage of the public domain books are still in print, with significantly more editions available per book, and for the subset of especially durable works, the public domain works are significantly less expensive. Although the data show that rates of availability for both kinds of books are likely sensitive to reductions in the cost of duplication and distribution, the study concludes that protection of fiction beyond the period necessary to ensure its creation is not justified by concerns about under-exploitation. The possibility of congestion presented by the data is also tentatively rejected. paul j. heald Economics Intellectual Property Law