Nagaraj (2017)

From Copyright EVIDENCE

Advertising Architectural Publishing of books, periodicals and other publishing Programming and broadcasting Computer programming Computer consultancy Creative, arts and entertainment Cultural education Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities

Film and motion pictures Sound recording and music publishing Photographic activities PR and communication Software publishing Video game publishing Specialised design Television programmes Translation and interpretation

1. Relationship between protection (subject matter/term/scope) and supply/economic development/growth/welfare 2. Relationship between creative process and protection - what motivates creators (e.g. attribution; control; remuneration; time allocation)? 3. Harmony of interest assumption between authors and publishers (creators and producers/investors) 4. Effects of protection on industry structure (e.g. oligopolies; competition; economics of superstars; business models; technology adoption) 5. Understanding consumption/use (e.g. determinants of unlawful behaviour; user-generated content; social media)

A. Nature and Scope of exclusive rights (hyperlinking/browsing; reproduction right) B. Exceptions (distinguish innovation and public policy purposes; open-ended/closed list; commercial/non-commercial distinction) C. Mass digitisation/orphan works (non-use; extended collective licensing) D. Licensing and Business models (collecting societies; meta data; exchanges/hubs; windowing; crossborder availability) E. Fair remuneration (levies; copyright contracts) F. Enforcement (quantifying infringement; criminal sanctions; intermediary liability; graduated response; litigation and court data; commercial/non-commercial distinction; education and awareness)

Source Details

Nagaraj (2017)
Title: Does Copyright Affect Reuse? Evidence from Google Books and Wikipedia
Author(s): Nagaraj, A.
Year: 2017
Citation: Nagaraj, A. (2017) Does Copyright Affect Reuse? Evidence from Google Books and Wikipedia. Management Science, published online in Articles in Advance 26 July 2017.
Link(s): Open Access
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About the Data
Data Description: The study uses Wikipedia citations to determine whether editions of Baseball Digest which are out of copyright (published between 1944 and 1963) are disproportionately more likely to be used than those that are still within copyright (published between 1964 and 1984). As all editions of Baseball Digest were also made available fully digitised on Google Books in 2008, the author also tracks whether this increased availability also impacted reuse of material through Wikipedia.
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Cross Country Study?: No
Comparative Study?: No
Literature review?: No
Government or policy study?: No
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Abstract

“While digitization has greatly increased the reuse of knowledge, this study shows how these benefits might be mitigated by copyright restrictions. I use the digitization of in-copyright and out-of-copyright issues of Baseball Digest magazine by Google Books to measure the impact of copyright on knowledge reuse in Wikipedia. I exploit a feature of the 1909 Copyright Act whereby material published before 1964 has lapsed into the public domain, allowing for the causal estimation of the impact of copyright across this sharp cutoff. I find that, while digitization encourages knowledge reuse, copyright restrictions reduce citations to copyrighted issues of Baseball Digest by up to 135% and affect readership by reducing traffic to affected pages by 20%. These impacts are highly uneven: copyright hurts the reuse of images rather than text and affects Wikipedia pages for less-popular players greater than more-popular ones.”

Main Results of the Study

Overall, digitisation of materials has a positive effect on reuse. In the case study concerned, citations on relevant Wikipedia pages increased by almost 300% following the digitisation of Baseball Digest. Wikipedia “power” editors may have contributed to the spike in availability of this information around 2011, when they publicly notified other contributors that pre-1964 editions of Baseball Digest were now digitally available, and within the public domain.However, digitised materials which are out of copyright, are far more likely to be reused than digitised in-copyright materials. Citations of Baseball Digest magazines, which were post-copyright and post-digitisation, increased by 135% comparatively. Pages which relied on in-copyright material also received on average 20% less internet traffic. Such differences suggest that copyrighted material cannot be substituted for other sources, and thus results in a loss of knowledge availability. Reuse of materials is also dependent on whether the material is image or text; text is likely to be unaffected, whereas images are. This may be as a result in difficulties of making transformative reuses of images, whereas text may be paraphrased.Furthermore, availability of reusable materials often disproportionately affects lesser-known topics, which improve upon digitisation. Information on more popular topics remains largely unaffected.

Policy Implications as Stated By Author

The author seeks to inform (a) the impact of digitisation on reuse, and (b) whether copyright should be reformed in the digital age, in light of this. They conclude that policymakers should consider that digitised, out-of-copyright material has a positive effect on reuse, and thus should consider the availability and legal status of copyrightable materials. As transaction costs of in-copyright material act as a barrier for knowledge-dependent communities, such as Wikipedia, policymakers may wish to consider weaker copyright protection in this area (as opposed to extending protection).


Coverage of Study

Coverage of Fundamental Issues
Issue Included within Study
Relationship between protection (subject matter/term/scope) and supply/economic development/growth/welfare
Relationship between creative process and protection - what motivates creators (e.g. attribution; control; remuneration; time allocation)?
Harmony of interest assumption between authors and publishers (creators and producers/investors)
Effects of protection on industry structure (e.g. oligopolies; competition; economics of superstars; business models; technology adoption)
Understanding consumption/use (e.g. determinants of unlawful behaviour; user-generated content; social media)
Green-tick.png
Coverage of Evidence Based Policies
Issue Included within Study
Nature and Scope of exclusive rights (hyperlinking/browsing; reproduction right)
Exceptions (distinguish innovation and public policy purposes; open-ended/closed list; commercial/non-commercial distinction)
Mass digitisation/orphan works (non-use; extended collective licensing)
Green-tick.png
Licensing and Business models (collecting societies; meta data; exchanges/hubs; windowing; crossborder availability)
Green-tick.png
Fair remuneration (levies; copyright contracts)
Enforcement (quantifying infringement; criminal sanctions; intermediary liability; graduated response; litigation and court data; commercial/non-commercial distinction; education and awareness)

Datasets

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