An interesting paper calculates the optimal period of time for copyrights and sets it 14 years and declining.
Now before most of you fall asleep please think about what this means in our modern economies where brand, IP and other intangible assets define the "differential" values in our economies e.g. that which is above commodity level.
I am not capable of commentary on the efficacy, accuracy or correctness of the paper, but am fascinated by the implications:
- Copyright has an optimal protective value that is waning as reproduction and production technology makes IP cheaper to create and/or repurpose
- Copyright has a quantitative proximal value
- IP can be rationalized in terms of benefit
The outcomes of this approach and hopefully subsequent papers could be the following in years to come:
- Change in terms of all IP protection (trademark, patents) periods and mechanisms
- A better understanding for valuation of IP assets: How much is Mickey mouse worth?
- A framework for determining more effectively if only slightly the economics of new media technologies
- A framework for assessing the impacts of distributed information and access.
These are bold claims from a single paper, but huge new grounds and challenges for economics and eventually policy makers and society in the future years to come.
