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Fighting Software Piracy: Which IPRs Laws Matter in Africa?

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  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (African Governance and Development Institute, Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Abstract

The proliferation of technology to produce pirated software has prompted key questions in policy decision making on how to tackle the situation. The paper will employ Dynamic panel Generalized Methods of Moments and Two Stage Least Squares to address this. IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights) laws are instrumented with government quality dynamics to assess their incidence on software piracy. In essence, government quality variables are used as instrumental variables in investigating the role of IPRs laws on software piracy. The following findings are established. (1) Government institutions are crucial in enforcing IPRs laws in the fight against software piracy. (2) Main IP laws enacted by the legislature and Multilateral IP laws are most effective in combating piracy. (3) IPRs laws, WIPO Treaties and Bilateral Treaties do not have significant negative incidences on software piracy. Policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Fighting Software Piracy: Which IPRs Laws Matter in Africa?," Institutions and Economies (formerly known as International Journal of Institutions and Economies), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, vol. 6(2), pages 1-26, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:umk:journl:v:6:y:2014:i:2:p:1-26
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu, 2017. "Boosting Scientific Publications in Africa: Which IPRs Protection Channels Matter?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(1), pages 197-210, March.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2018. "Determinants of Property Rights Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(4), pages 1291-1308, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Intellectual property rights; Panel data; Software piracy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F42 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Policy Coordination and Transmission
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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