Piracy-Minimizing Non-Linear Pricing of Differentiated Digital Goods in Client-Server Networks, and Distribution Choices Under Constrained Transferable Utility

Abstract

Although the number of “legal” online filesharing networks has increased, Digital Piracy has become more pervasisve and affects several industries such as new/information, entertainment, education, sports, etc. The main objectives of this article are a) to develop pricing schemes (for digital content) that reduce the information producers’ losses from copyright infringement while maximizing social welfare, b) show how the configuration of networks affects propensity for Digital Piracy and pricing of digital content; c) analyze how the present mispricing of internet access contributes to illegal online file-sharing.

Keywords: Networks, illegal downloads, bandwidth optimization, security, digital entertainment, file-sharing