Copyright Evidence
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About


A cubic space of available evidence on unlawful file sharing, in Watson, S., Zizzo, D., & Fleming, P. (2014). Available on the Evidence Wiki.

The Copyright Evidence Portal is a digital resource developed by the CREATe Centre at the University of Glasgow in partnership with the AHRC Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (PEC). We intend for the resource to become a global reference point for empirical work on the causes and effects of copyright law.

We believe that copyright reform and policy interventions should be based on rigorous evidence rather than myths and anecdotes. Amidst the new challenges emerging from digital change, we need an evidence base to inform the design of new rules so that they can best benefit creators, creative industries and society as a whole.

By helping policy makers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academics and the general public engage with the growing body of empirical work on copyright law, we hope this resource will enable better decision-making in a contested policy field.

Throughout the development of this resource, we have emphasised an open, user-led approach. Studies can be submitted into the editorial process by anybody interested. Wiki technology allows transparent tracking of all editorial interventions.

The Copyright Evidence Portal is structured in such a way that it can be explored through three key questions: What evidence is available (Evidence Wiki)? Are there patterns that can be visualised (Evidence Viz)? And how can the evidence be used (Use Cases)?

Evidence Wiki

What evidence is available?

The Copyright Evidence Wiki aims to catalogue all existing empirical studies about copyright. The Wiki offers an interdisciplinary overview of this field of evidence. Legal studies are not excluded but must have an explicit empirical component. Studies are coded according to multiple categories, including industry sector, country and method. They can be browsed and searched. Read more about the Copyright Evidence Wiki here.

Evidence Viz

What are the patterns?

The Evidence Viz allows you to easily see the state of evidence through dynamic and intuitive visualisations. Drawing on data from the Copyright Evidence Wiki, the visualisations can be adjusted to identify patterns. Overviews of the state of evidence can be downloaded, controlled for example by policy issue, country, industry sector, method, or cross citation. Read more about how the visualisations work in the User Guide.

Use Cases

How can the evidence be used?

Use Cases demonstrate the many ways in which copyright evidence can be utilised. Including links to other digital resources and tools, the Use Cases also document outputs that have used the evidence base of the Portal to inform their findings.

Launch Event

The Copyright Evidence Portal was launched at the BEYOND conference in December 2020. A recording of the event is available below, including detailed guidance on how to use the Wiki and Viz tool.

Credits: This resource has been supported by AHRC grant AH/S001298/1 (Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre). General editor: Martin Kretschmer; Lead producer: Bartolomeo Meletti; Data visualisations: Dietmar Aumann (Veste Software); Web design: Pete Bennett. Details about the editorial board of the project can be found here.

Disclaimer: The Evidence Portal and Evidence Wiki only collect studies that are written in English or where an English translation is available.

The Evidence Portal draws upon studies that were identified through an initial literature review of select sources in 2014. Since 2017, studies have been sourced using Google Scholar alerts tied to specific key terms relating to the scope of the Evidence Wiki. Further details of the selection methodology are available here.