Copyright Evidence

[[Image:]][[Image:]][[Image:]]#

About the Copyright Evidence Wiki

The Copyright Evidence Wiki is a digital resource developed by the CREATe Centre at the University of Glasgow. The aim of the Wiki is to construct a complete catalogue of existing empirical evidence relevant to copyright policy in order to inform public debate. The evidence is coded by many categories, including country, industry, funder and research method, offering an in-depth view of existing findings. The codes can be explored using the semantic drilldown function.

Purpose and Scope

The Copyright Evidence Wiki is the central part of CopyrightEvidence.org, a portal that intends to establish a body of evidence that allows better decision making in a contested policy field. Competing claims can be assessed and challenged transparently if the using underlying data and methods are transparent. Robustness and limitations of findings are carefully collected and are available here for all to see and reference.

This project is a form of dynamic literature review in a rapidly changing technological, business and socio-legal landscape. Only very recently, new research methods in combination with the development of big data techniques, which are richer both in size and in depth, have allowed researchers to test empirically key theoretical propositions and forced them to build theories which are consistent with observation. Topical policy issues and political decisions can be set in the context of empirical evidence.This generated the need to evaluate political decisions and design policy interventions based on evidence.

The Evidence Wikiis open online platform builds on an innovative open research philosophy. C and examines copyright can be examined from an interdisciplinary perspective that, while it also facilitates bringing evidence to the debate from studies in fields that were previously overlooked. Relevant empirical work spreads across conventional methodological and disciplinary boundaries and it does not need to have "copyright" in the title.

A crucial dimension of the existing evidence examines different stages of production (e.g. creation, innovation, diffusion, distribution), in various creative industries (e.g. music, film and motion pictures, TV programmes, computer software, books), and estimates the effects of copyright on diverse agents in each sector, such as creators, investors, distributors, users or society as a whole. The fact that the impact of copyright law differs across various actors, industries and demographic groups, implies the need for more specific policies. F(for instance, even though surveys, such asthe Ofcom (2011), survey provides evidence of heterogeneous consumption patterns, this remains an understudied aspect in most of the existing studies).

The transition to a global digital economy is associated with new challenges for enforcement authorities, for copyright law and for new business models. Imaginative use of the increasing volume of data is crucial for the design of more effective policies at the national and international level. Importantly, the effects of copyright protection and infringement for welfare, creativity and innovation require that policy decision making be consistent with rigorous empirical analysis.

Editorial Board

Prof. Martin Kretschmer (chair), University of Glasgow

Assoc. Prof. Kristofer Erickson (co-chair), University of Leeds

Dr Kenneth Barr, University of Glasgow

Dr Heather Ford, University of Leeds

Assoc. Prof. Rebecca Giblin, Monash University

Prof. Paul Heald, University of Illinois

Dr Thomas Margoni, University of Glasgow

Dr Theo Koutmeridis, University of Glasgow

Assoc. Prof. Joost Poort, University of Amsterdam

Fred Saunderson, National Library of Scotland

Prof. Ruth Towse, Bournemouth University & CREATe

Amy Thomas (sub-editor), University of Glasgow [[Image:]] Editorial Board Meeting, 2017 [[Image:]] Members of the original Copyright Evidence Wiki team

1. “Methodology”

Guidelines for the cataloguing of copyright evidence where drawn up following a CREATe workshop on 20 October 2014, attended by Sayantan Ghosal (Dpt of Economics, University of Glasgow), Georg v Graevenitz (Queen Mary University of London & CREATe Fellow in Innovation Economics), Morten Hviid (Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia) and Ruth Towse (Bournemouth University & CREATe Fellow in Cultural Economics). Further consultations took place with Chris Buccafusco (New York University), Smita Kheria (University of Edinburgh), Joost Poort (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam & CREATe Fellow in Economics of copyright and media industries) and Steven Watson (Lancaster University).

An initial selection of studies was drawn from four sources:

1. A scoping review of the "piracy" literature commissioned by CREATe from Watson, Fleming and Zizzo, published in 2014. This used a review technique from the medical sciences to identify more than 50,000 academic sources that were potentially relevant for assessing unlawful file sharing, covering music, film, television, video games, software and books. During the review process, the sources were narrowed down to 206 articles which examined human behaviour.
2. Working papers and pre-prints published in the SSRN e-journal Intellectual Property: Empirical Studies (edited by Christopher J. Buccafusco and David L. Schwartz). 710 papers published between November 1996 and July 2015 were narrowed down to 132 studies relevant to copyright law. These were further reviewed by the core editorial team of the Wiki (Koutmeridis, Erickson, Koutmeridis, Kretschmer) if they contained "sufficient empirical material" that warranted coding. "Sufficient empirical material" could be quantitative or qualitative. Our working definition excluded anecdotal or journalistic treatment, though single case studies were acceptable if the methodology was articulated and justified. A total of 103 studies were selected and catalogued from this SSRN source.
3. Expert literature reviews conducted by Handke (2011), Kretschmer (2012) and Kheria (2013). They were used to fill some of the gaps left by the "piracy" review, in particular relating to creator perspectives. A total of 81 studies wereill be catalogued under this method.
4. 50 governmental reports on intellectual property/copyright policy, proposed by CREATe doctoral candidates Kenny Barr and Megan Blakely, and reviewed by the core editorial team of the Wiki (Koutmeridis, Erickson, Kretschmer).

From 2014 to 2017, the Copyright Evidence Wiki was led by Theo Koutmeridis (lead editor), Kris Erickson and Martin Kretschmer. Research assistants coding entries were PhD candidates with CREATe, including Kenny Barr, Megan Blakely, Jaakko Miettinen, Victoria Stobo and Andrea Wallace. We have archived a version with GitHub that was produced under the responsibility of this team in January 2018, containing 593 studies.

Following the constitution of the editorial board in December 2017, a sub-editor was appointed, managing a new search-based process to identifying studies. Studies are now sourced using Google Scholar alerts for the following search strings:

“copyright” AND “empirical”

“copyright” AND “methodology”

“copyright” AND “qualitative”

“copyright” AND “quantitative”

The current editorial review process also allows all Wiki users to propose new studies.

All coding is performed by research assistants at CREATe, with the support of the AHRC Policy & Evidence Centre for the creative industries (PEC). We aim to catalogue 50 new studies per year. The editorial board’s processes ensure that the Wiki cannot be captured by any specific interests.

How to use and cite The Copyright Evidence Wiki

Most of the original content on the Copyright Evidence Wiki website is distributed under a CC BY 3.0 licence, meaning that you can share, remix, alter and build upon the Copyright Evidence Wiki content for any purpose as long as you credit the author of the content. Where content on the Copyright Evidence Wiki is not distributed under a CC BY 3.0 licence, this will be indicated clearly.

[[Image:]]

Please cite the resource in the following way:

The Copyright Evidence Wiki: Empirical Evidence for Copyright Policy. CREATe Centre: University of Glasgow (http://CopyrightEvidence.org)

Please include the date when the resource was accessed.

If referring to the earlier version archived with GitHub [1] in January 2018, we suggest that the resource is cited in the following way: Koutmeridis, T., Erickson, K. & Kretschmer, M. (eds.) (2014-2017) The Copyright Evidence Wiki: Empirical Evidence for Copyright Policy.

1. “FAQs”

Q: How do I submit a study to the Copyright Evidence Wiki?

A: You can use the “Propose a Study” webform to submit a study for consideration to the Copyright Evidence Wiki. The webform requires: your name, your email address, and the URL or citation of the study you want to submit. The webform is sent to the sub-editor who determines the study’s suitability for the Wiki and arranges for coding by an accredited coder, if appropriate. Most studies will be included where they are related to copyright and have sufficient empirical material.

Q: How do I search for studies?

A: The Wiki is fully text-searchable and can be used as a dynamic, interactive literature review tool. You can use the “Semantic Drilldown” feature to tailor your search in more detail and filter according to a range of factors, including country, industry and research method. “Example Semantic Visualisations” show how the drilldown can be used to identify under-researched areas or explore how studies connect to each other (developed as part of the 2016 Hackathon).

Searches on the Copyright Evidence Wiki can be complemented with results from other CREATe databases related to online media behaviour (OMeBa), litigation cases (Litigation Explorer) and real-time infringement (IPWatchr).

Q: How are the studies sourced?

A: Since As of December 2017, studies have been sourced using a combination of Google Scholar Alerts and crowdsourcing through the “Propose a Study” function. The exact search strings used for the Google Scholar Alerts are detailed on the “Methodology” [insert link when new methodology page available] page. We aim to code 50 studies per year using this method.

Q: How do coders decide what information is included on the study page?

A: Our “Coder Guide” [insert link when new coder guide available] provides instruction for coders on what information should be captured from studies and how this should be formatted.

Q: How do I cite the Copyright Evidence Wiki?

A: Please use the following citation, including the date when you accessed the Copyright Evidence Wiki:

The Copyright Evidence Wiki: Empirical Evidence for Copyright Policy. CREATe Centre: University of Glasgow (http://CopyrightEvidence.org)

Q: I’ve spotted an error in a study – how can I suggest an amendment?

If you notice any errors or information that requires updating in a study, please send details to thecopyrightcentre@gmail.com. The sub-editor will review this and amend the error if appropriate.