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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.
Publication year: 2023
Annual financial report and financial statements
Year to December 31, 2022
WIPO financial statements are submitted to its Assemblies of Member States in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules.
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
WIPO Workforce 2023
June Edition
WIPO's workforce is the human capital of the Organization and its greatest asset. This brochure shows a detailed picture of staffing at WIPO in 2023.
Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review 2023 - Executive Summary
The International Patent System
This executive brief identifies the key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and provides a summary of the statistics reported in the PCT Yearly Review 2023.
WIPO Intellectual Property (IP) and Gender Action Plan: The Role of IP in Support of Women and Girls
This document sets out the first strategic plan for WIPO's newly created IP and gender program which aligns with WIPO's Medium-Term Strategic Plan and complements WIPO's Gender Policy. Under the IP and Gender Action Plan (IPGAP), WIPO's policy is to lead the development of an IP ecosystem that promotes and encourages women's engagement in IP and innovation. WIPO will equip member states and external stakeholders by providing the necessary data and information to integrate a gender perspective into IP legislation, policies, programs and projects. This will attract investments, create jobs and drive economic growth for the benefit of women, communities and member states.
TISCs and TTOs Report 2022
Strengthening local innovation capacities to accelerate knowledge and technology transfer
This annual report for Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) and Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) highlights the main developments and milestones in 2022, with a focus on how TISCs in 90 countries and TTOs continued to expand their services to meet the needs of local innovators, and how WIPO supports them with new resources.
Madrid Yearly Review 2023 – Executive Summary
International Registration of Marks
This executive brief identifies key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Madrid System.
The WIPO Academy Portfolio of Education, Training and Skills Development Programs 2023
This Portfolio serves as a catalogue of all the training opportunities to be offered by the WIPO Academy in 2023 and outlines the content of each course. It gives information to potential participants on eligibility criteria, application formalities, timelines, selection procedures, travel and other relevant necessary information.