Erickson, Kretschmer and Mendis (2019)
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Source Details
| Erickson, Kretschmer and Mendis (2019) | |
| Title: | An Empirical Approach to the Public Domain |
| Author(s): | Erickson, K., Kretschmer, M., Mendis, D. |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Citation: | Erickson, K., Kretschmer, M. and Mendis, D. (2019) “An Empirical Approach to the Public Domain” in Drexl, J. and Kamperman, J. Sanders (Eds.) The Innovation Society and Intellectual Property, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar |
| Link(s): | Open Access |
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| About the Data | |
| Data Description: | The study provides an overview of three related projects:
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| Data Type: | Primary and Secondary data |
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| Country(ies): | |
| Cross Country Study?: | No |
| Comparative Study?: | No |
| Literature review?: | Yes |
| Government or policy study?: | No |
| Time Period(s) of Collection: | |
| Funder(s): | |
Abstract
“In this chapter, we consider the location of the boundary between creative expressions protected by copyright and those in the public domain. Contrary to some legal theory, we adopt a user-centric definition of the public domain focused on the behaviours permitted to the end user. Our definition includes four categories of public domain works: (1) Copyright works that are out of term of protection: namely, literary and artistic works created by authors who died prior to 1944; (2) Materials that were never protected by copyright: namely, works from antiquity and folklore; (3) Underlying ideas not being substantial expression: namely, inspiration taken from preexisting works, including genre, plot or ideas; (4) Works offered to the public domain by their creator: namely, certain free and open-licensed works without restrictions. The chapter then outlines a methodology to study empirically the uptake and use of public domain materials. This enables us to identify and quantify the contribution of the public domain to innovation and creative enterprise.”
Main Results of the Study
• Project 1: Whilst the use of public domain materials allows certain types of business models to flourish, businesses report struggling to find high-quality sources of public domain materials, making them difficult to commercialise.
• Project 2: Projects which incorporate public domain materials are significantly more likely to be successful compared to ‘original’ projects.
• Project 3: The public domain availability of images makes a significant difference to their inclusion on Wikipedia; despite the increased uptake in camera technologies in the twentieth century, biographies for authors born prior to 1880 are more likely to be accompanied by an image than those after.
• The study also offers a nuanced definition of the public domain for future empirical work, which includes e.g. commercial and noncommercial uses, and is not restricted to one aspect of the public domain (e.g. works whose term has expired).
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
The study does not offer any explicit policy recommendations.
Coverage of Study
Datasets
| Sample size: | 22 |
| Level of aggregation: | Creative businesses |
| Period of material under study: |
| Sample size: | 1,933 |
| Level of aggregation: | Kickstarter projects |
| Period of material under study: | January - April 2014 |
| Sample size: | 1,700 |
| Level of aggregation: | Wikipedia pages |
| Period of material under study: |
