Software Pricing and Copyright: Enforcement Against End-Users

27 Pages Posted: 17 Jun 1999

See all articles by Ivan P. L. Png

Ivan P. L. Png

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Yeh-Ning Chen

National Taiwan University - Department of Finance

Date Written: May 1999

Abstract

The incentive to copy software depends on publishers' price and monitoring strategy. This paper analyzes how a publisher's strategy depends on the penalty for copyright violation and the cost of copying. It shows that changes in price and monitoring have qualitatively different effects on potential users. Both affect users' choice between copying and buying. Only monitoring reduces the expected benefit of those who copy and affects users' choice between copying and not using. Hence, society should favor dealing with piracy through price rather than monitoring.

JEL Classification: K42, L11, L86

Suggested Citation

Png, Ivan P. L. and Chen, Yeh-Ning, Software Pricing and Copyright: Enforcement Against End-Users (May 1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=165228 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.165228

Ivan P. L. Png (Contact Author)

National University of Singapore (NUS) ( email )

Singapore, 117543
Singapore
+65 6516-6807 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/iplpng/

Yeh-Ning Chen

National Taiwan University - Department of Finance ( email )

6F, 50, Lane 144, Keelung Road
Section 4
Taipei, Taiwan 106
China
886-2-363-6712 (Phone)
886-2-366-0764 (Fax)

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