Forever Minus a Day? Calculating Optimal Copyright Term

26 Pages Posted: 21 Jul 2009

See all articles by Rufus Pollock

Rufus Pollock

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: July 19, 2009

Abstract

The optimal term of copyright has been a matter for extensive debate over the last decade. Based on a novel approach we derive an explicit formula which characterises the optimal term as a function of a few key and, most importantly, empirically-estimable parameters. Using existing data on recordings and books we obtain a point estimate of around 15 years for optimal copyright term with a 99% confidence interval extending up to 38 years. This is substantially shorter than any current copyright term and implies that existing terms are too long.

Suggested Citation

Pollock, Rufus, Forever Minus a Day? Calculating Optimal Copyright Term (July 19, 2009). Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 35-60, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1436186

Rufus Pollock (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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