Search Reset
Query > Copyright and Related Rights > English
Joining the International Copyright System: What's At Stake?
This booklet introduces the copyright treaties administered by WIPO, identifies some of the potential benefits they offer, and outlines the steps that countries need to take in order to join the international copyright system.
Publication year: 2017
Creators' Income Situation in the Digital Age
Economic Research Working Paper No. 49
The digital transformation imposes both opportunities and risks for creativity and for creative employment, with implications for trends in income levels and the distribution of income. First, we consider skill-biased technological change as a determinant of income and labor market outcomes in the arts. Arguably, the IT revolution has changed the demand for certain skills, with creative occupations being more in demand than general employment. Second, we consider declines in the costs of generating new works and artistic experimentation due to digital technologies, and their effect on the barriers to entry in labor markets. Third, we touch upon the rise of online contract labor in certain creative professions as a determinant of income. Here, online platforms can change creators' access to work opportunities and it may alter the way income is distributed. We find that wage trends for creative workers in the digital age outperform general trends in the population: based on various data sources and various ways to identify creators, we see creators losing less or even gaining a better income position in relative terms. From a policy perspective, results do not lend support to the idea that creators' income situation has systematically worsened with the rise of the internet and its intermediaries. Evidence on changing distributions of income is ambiguous as trends differ from one country to the next.
Publication year: 2018
Intellectual Property and Folk, Arts and Cultural Festivals
Practical Guide
This Guide provides general information about intellectual property (IP) and cultural interests. It identifies the main IP challenges faced by festival organizers and outlines some practical elements of an effective IP management strategy, following a step-by-step approach.
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.
Publication year: 2023
IP assets and film finance - a primer on standard practices in the U.S.
Economic Research Working Paper No. 74
This research summarizes the basic economics of film finance and standard practices in the U.S. movie industry. It shows how risk and uncertainty around new film finance are managed by the private sector and what market-based solutions have been developed to mitigate risk in the sector. Based on a series of expert interviews and exploratory data analysis, the research presents the most common types of financial deals on the ground and reoccurring funding practices for new film production and distribution in the past twenty years, including a discussion of most recent trends and digital changes in the sector. In particular, the research highlights the prominent role of intellectual property (IP) in financial transactions of the movie industry and it discusses policy options in the U.S. and beyond to better leverage IP assets for financing purposes.
Collective Management of Text and Image-Based Works
Collective Management of Text and Image-Based Works offers a general description of collective management of copyright in the text and image sector. It provides insight into the legislative framework and national operational systems in different parts of the world.
The Setting-up of New Copyright Societies
The document provides short explanations, on the different steps, conditions and on the various parameters indispensable for the creation of a collective management organization for musical works. It includes an interesting work plan indicating in a time frame the different stages necessary for achieving such goal.
Publication year: 2005
From Artist to Audience
A WIPO booklet produced in cooperation with the International Confederation of Societies of Authors (CISAC) and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), aims to answer questions by exploring one way in which the copyright and related rights system works, namely through the collective management of rights.
Publication year: 2004
Managing Intellectual Property for Museums
Guide
This Guide, prepared by Rina Elster Pantalony, was recently updated to reflect the tremendous developments since it was first published in 2007, in particular Digital Rights Management, the role of social media as a business opportunity and traditional knowledge. The two-part Guide first describes IP issues relevant to museums then reviews existing business models that could provide museums with appropriate opportunities to create sustainable funding, and deliver on their stated objectives.
Publication year: 2013
Accessible Books Consortium:
Bringing books to persons with print disabilities
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is an alliance that comprises WIPO, organizations that serve persons with print disabilities and organizations that represent authors and publishers.
Publication year: 2014