Search Reset
Query > Copyright and Related Rights > English
World Intellectual Property Indicators 2023
This authoritative report analyzes IP activity around the globe. Drawing on 2022 filing, registration and in force statistics from national and regional IP offices, it covers patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection and geographical indications. The report also draws on survey data and industry sources to give a picture of activity in the creative economy.
Publication year: 2023
Ars longa, vita brevis: The death of the creator and the impact on exhibitions and auction markets
Economic Research Working Paper No.76
This paper studies the death effect on artists' exhibitions and commercial success in the secondary art market. Based on a random sample of 1'000 popular artists born after the turn of the 20th century, we construct a novel panel data set of their worldwide exhibition history and auction transactions. By applying a regression discontinuity and event study design, we find an overall negative effect of artist death on the number of exhibitions. However, this post mortem effect disappears in longer term. Roughly ten years after death, exhibitions are back to pre-death levels. Arguably, transaction cost and higher auction prices after death also temporarily increase the average cost of exhibiting artworks, e.g. higher market valuation raises (unobserved) insurance cost for exhibitions. Hedonic auction price models confirm this intuition and suggest a significant price premium posthumously. We find substantial heterogeneity in the treatment depending on the age and reputation of the artist at death. Overall findings explain important mechanisms for the post mortem value of artistic work and have important policy implications for the creative sectors and the design of legacy stewardship rules, including a possible justification for rights granted post mortem such as copyright.
Digitization and Availability of Artworks in Online Museum Collections
Economic Research Working Paper No.75
We provide quantitative evidence from museum collections about how copyright status affects the availability of digital images of artworks. The paper applies a regression discontinuity and differences-in-differences design to estimate online availability of artworks from U.S. collections on digital platforms. We find a strong increase in the availability of digital surrogates when copyright is perceived to expire and original artworks are likely to transition to the public domain. Moreover, artworks and surrogates made available see a large number of downstream reuses based on google image search data, which indicates online availability is of commercial and public value independent of right status. Notably, we show that upstream surrogates of public domain artworks made available by museums are positively correlated with higher image resolution quality as compared to digitized artworks still protected under copyright laws. At the same time, it seems expressed industry norms can help encourage U.S. museums to also make low-resolution surrogates of copyrighted artworks available.
How to Make a Living from Music
Creative industries - third edition
Building a successful career in music includes managing intellectual property (IP) rights. WIPO supports authors and performers in enhancing their knowledge of the intellectual property aspects involved in their professional work. Copyright and related rights can help musical authors and performers generate additional income from their talent.
Publication year: 2024
Innovation and Intellectual Property Use in the Global Video Game Industry
Economic Research Working Paper No.85
This paper is an analysis of the evolution of the global video game industry, a sector characterized by rapid technological innovation and changing business models. It builds on the work of Özalp (2024) and delves into how innovation in hardware, software, digital transformation and business models have redefined the boundaries of game development and player experiences. The paper also explores the important job roles in the industry, the role of intellectual property and end with predictions for the future of the industry. It aims to provide an accessible understanding of the industry's evolution, its current state, and its potential future directions.
Heterogeneous Development Paths to Growth and Innovation: The Evolution of the Video Game Industry across Four Hubs
Economic Research Working Paper No.84
This study explores the evolution and success drivers of the global video game industry, focusing on key hubs within Finland, Poland, Japan, and the United States. Using a qualitative methodology, the research delves into how unique capabilities and historical development have contributed to the industry's growth across these nations. The findings reveal diverse pathways to building video game industry clusters, emphasizing the role of cross-industry skill transfer, intellectual property, and government support. In traditional hubs like Japan and the United States, the crossover of capabilities from entertainment and hardware industries has been crucial, whereas, in newer hubs like Finland and Poland, the growth is attributed to unique local developments such as hobby coder communities or leveraging the initial localization efforts to build globally appealing games. It further highlights the pivotal role of education in sustaining the growth of video game industry hubs.
The Evolution of the Two-Wheeler Industry: A Comparative Study of Italy, Japan, and India
Economic Research Working Paper No.83
This study leverages secondary data to provide a comprehensive outlook on the origin and evolution of the two-wheeler industry in Italy, Japan, and India. The study reveals how different technological, design, and manufacturing capabilities, combined with specific economic and social features in the historical contexts, have contributed to determine different trajectories in the evolution of these national industries. Recent trends towards digital transformation, electric mobility, connected driving are discussed. Three main takeaways emerge from our analysis. Firstly, the local capabilities play a crucial role in shaping both the origin and progression of the technology and the industry. Secondly, the two-wheeler industry displays patterns and trajectories that mimic the automotive industry, which can thus be used to interpret and forecast past, present, and future of motorcycles. Thirdly, the two-wheeler industry has been uniquely influenced by other industries, which has enhanced the complexity and effectiveness of its products and introduced novel elements which are reshaping the international demand for two-wheelers.
Innovation Complexity in AgTech: The case of Brazil, Kenya and the United States of America?
Economic Research Working Paper No.82
This paper illustrates successful policies and incentives that build on local innovation capabilities across three agricultural innovation hubs at different income levels and across different geographical regions. It makes the case for how countries highly complex innovation ecosystems, which refer to the diversity and sophistication of local innovators and the types of innovation they produce, tend to have more opportunities to shift their technological path to the frontier. The paper focuses on three agricultural hubs across different income levels and geography to illustrate how smart policies that focus on building local capabilities can help countries diversify and create their own agricultural technological paths. These hubs include: São Paulo in Brazil, Nairobi in Kenya and Colorado in the United States of America.
Can we map innovation capabilities?
Economic Research Working Paper No.81
Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of industrial policies globally. Through various industrial policy instruments, governments make critical scientific and technological choices that shape innovation paths and resource allocations. Our paper explores innovation capabilities as essential drivers of competitive outcomes, spanning science, technology, and production domains. Based on the economic complexity literature, we propose a methodological framework to measure the innovation capabilities empirically, leveraging data on scientific publications, patents, and trade. Our findings highlight the multidimensional nature of innovation capabilities and underscore the importance of understanding both the specialization and quality of these capabilities. Our results are in line with the complexity literature, as we also find: (i) positive correlations between the innovation complexity and economic growth; and, (ii) the predictive power of existing innovation capabilities for fostering new ones. Based on these findings, we propose novel indicators informing innovation policymaking on the innovation potential across science, technology, and production fields of an ecosystem. We suggest that innovation policymaking needs to be informed by deeper insights into innovation capabilities that are crucial for long-term growth and competitiveness improvement.
Global Trends in Innovation Patterns: A Complexity Approach
Economic Research Working Paper No.80
Technological know-how in a country shapes its growth potential and competitiveness. Scientific publications, patents, and international trade data offer complementary insights into how ideas from science, technology, and production evolve, combine, and are transformed into capabilities. Analyzing their trajectories enables a more comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of the whole innovation process, from generating ideas to internationally commercializing products. We analyze the production patterns in these three domains, documenting the differences between advanced and emerging market economies. We find that future income, patenting, and publishing growth correlate with the economic complexity indices calculated from these domains. Capabilities embedded in the country also shape future diversification opportunities and make the innovation process path dependent. Lastly, we also show that diversification opportunities can be inferred across innovation domains.