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Civil and criminal penalties for copyright infringement

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  • Arai, Yasuhiro

Abstract

Copyright violations are subject to both civil and criminal sanctions, but criminal charges are relatively rare. Using a theoretical model, this study compares the implications of civil and criminal penalty schemes from the viewpoint of social welfare, where civil and criminal schemes are distinguished by whether penalties are paid to the copyright holder or the government. The analysis suggests that when the costs of developing a copyrighted product are low, the socially most desirable scheme is one in which there are no civil penalties and criminal penalties are low. Although very severe criminal penalties may lead to the complete elimination of copyright infringements, they could also result in excessive monopoly profits for the producer of the copyrighted good. A further finding is that the number of copyright infringements is smaller under the criminal than the civil law scheme.

Suggested Citation

  • Arai, Yasuhiro, 2011. "Civil and criminal penalties for copyright infringement," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 270-280.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:23:y:2011:i:3:p:270-280
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2011.08.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Javier López-Cuñat & Francisco Martínez-Sánchez, 2015. "Anti-piracy policy and quality differential in markets for information goods," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 375-401, April.
    2. Éric Darmon & Thomas Le Texier, 2014. "Private or Public Law Enforcement? The Case of Digital Piracy Policies with Non-monitored Illegal Behaviors," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes 1 & University of Caen) 201403, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes 1, University of Caen and CNRS.
    3. Yasuhiro Arai & Shinya Kinukawa, 2014. "Copyright infringement as user innovation," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 38(2), pages 131-144, May.
    4. Salahodjaev, Raufhon & Odilova, Shoirahon & Andrés, Antonio R., 2016. "Intelligence and Crime: A novel evidence for software piracy," MPRA Paper 71569, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Copyright protection; Intellectual property right; Piracy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • K39 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Other
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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