IP Outreach Research > IP Use and Awareness

Reference

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Main Findings

Public domain materials are perceived to be somewhat useful for the creation of new works: all academic authors surveyed somewhat use public domain materials, and at least some of their creations require them. However, the study finds no evidence that current copyright protections are seriously restricting access to public domain materials, which are mainly used for reference purposes and creation of derivative works. Public domain materials most commonly used are: scholarly papers, works of art, software applications, fiction books, non-fiction books and websites.

Generally, respondents do not confront many problems or barriers when using copyright-protected materials. The two principal problems with using copyright-protected material are of financial and administrative nature: the need to pay for the (high) cost of access, and the difficulty in seeking permission to use copyright protected materials.

Most academic authors prefer short copyright durations: a term of 20 years or less with an option to renew when expired is the most-favoured term choice. “No protection required” comes in second, followed by the midrange term (author lifetime, or maximum 50 years of protection). The current copyright protection (author lifetime plus 70 years) proves least popular. The usage level of public domain materials and monetary rewards do not have any impact on the preferred copyright duration (i.e. academic authors who are motivated by monetary reward when they writer/create their work do not necessarily require longer copyright protection).

Protection duration preference is found to depend on the following motivating factors: royalty received (the greater the market success of a creation the longer the term of copyright protection desired), type of work written/created (producers of different types of work prefer different copyright protection terms), category of academic author (academic authors from different categories differ on their choice of protection duration, e.g. textbook authors versus assistant professors publishing scholarly papers).

In view of the factors determining the preferred copyright protection duration, the author concludes that a short but renewable duration (20 years or shorter, with option to renew when expired) would be the best amongst all the models of copyright protection to protect academic authors’ works. This model ensures that works that need protection are protected, and that those no longer needing protection enter the public domain as soon as possible.

[Date Added: Aug 18, 2008 ]