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Pricing Information Goods in the Presence of Copying

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Belleflamme

    (Queen Mary, University of London)

Abstract

The effects of (private, small-scale) copying on the pricing behavior of producers of information goods are studied within a unified model à la Mussa-Rosen (1978). When the copying technology involves a marginal cost and no fixed cost, producers act independently. In this simple framework, we highlight the trade-off between ex ante and ex post efficiency considerations (how to provide the right incentives to create whilst limiting monopoly distortions?). When the copying technology involves a fixed cost and no marginal cost, pricing decisions are interdependent. We investigate the strategic pricing game by focussing on some significant symmetric Nash equilibria.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Belleflamme, 2002. "Pricing Information Goods in the Presence of Copying," Working Papers 463, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:463
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    Cited by:

    1. P Belleflamme & P M Picard, 2003. "Competition over Piratable Goods," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0332, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    2. Hoffmann, Magnus & Schmidt, Frederik, 2007. "Piracy of Digital Products: A Contest Theoretical Approach," MPRA Paper 3289, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Stan J. Liebowitz & Richard Watt, 2006. "How To Best Ensure Remuneration For Creators In The Market For Music? Copyright And Its Alternatives," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 513-545, September.
    4. Arun Sundararajan, 2003. "Managing Digital Piracy: Pricing, Protection and Welfare," Law and Economics 0307001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Waters, James, 2013. "Pricing information goods with piracy and heterogeneous consumers," MPRA Paper 46918, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Francisco Vázquez & Richard Watt, 2011. "Copyright piracy as prey–predator behavior," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 31-43, April.
    7. Bae, Sang Hoo & Choi, Jay Pil, 2006. "A model of piracy," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 303-320, September.
    8. Waters, James, 2015. "Welfare implications of piracy with dynamic pricing and heterogeneous consumers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(3), pages 904-911.
    9. Shin-yi Wu & Pei-yu Chen, 2008. "Versioning and Piracy Control for Digital Information Goods," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(1), pages 157-172, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information goods; Piracy; Copyright; Pricing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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