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Faculty of Economics

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Pollock, R., Stepan, P. and Välimäki, M. .

The Value of the EU Public Domain

CWPE1047

Abstract: This paper reports results from a large recent study of the public domain in the European Union. Based on a combination of catalogue, commercial and survey data we present detailed figures both on the prices (and price differences) of in copyright and public domain material and on the usage of that material. Combined with the estimates for the size of the EU public domain presented in the companion paper Pollock and Stepan (2009) our results allow us to provide the first quantitative estimate for the `value' of the public domain (i.e. welfare gains from its existence) in any jurisdiction.

Keywords: Copyright, Public Domain, Intellectual Property, Europe

PDF: https://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/research-files/repec/cam/pdf/cwpe1047.pdf

Open Access Link: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.1051