Copyright Law and Knowledge Creation: A Study of Copyright Term Length Impact on Knowledge Creation and Learning

摘要

The Constitution of the United States empowers Congress to pass copyright laws to promote knowledge creation in the society. Many economic studies have been conducted on copyright law, but very little research has been done to study the impact of the law on knowledge creation. In this dissertation, I study the length of the copyright term, the rationales and motivations behind extending the length in Copyright Term Extension Act, and how much those rationales and motivations are aligned with knowledge creation and learning. The qualitative analysis of the hearing sessions and floor debates demonstrates that supporters of the extensions offered macro and micro economic rationales that are not necessarily aligned with the promotion of knowledge and learning. Opponents of the extension argued that the extension would stifle the expansion of knowledge. In the second part of this dissertation, I develop and analyze an agent-based model to investigate the impact of different copyright terms on the creation and discovery of new knowledge. The model suggests that, for the most part, the extension of copyright term hinders scholars in producing new knowledge. Furthermore, extending copyright term tends to harm everyone, including scholars who have access to all published articles in the research field.