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Ramello, Giovanni B. --- "Pelle sub agnina latitat mens saepe lupina: copyright in the marketplace" [2005] ELECD 113; in Marciano, Alain; Josselin, Jean-Michel (eds), "Law and the State" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: Law and the State

Editor(s): Marciano, Alain; Josselin, Jean-Michel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843768005

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Pelle sub agnina latitat mens saepe lupina: copyright in the marketplace

Author(s): Ramello, Giovanni B.

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

12. Pelle sub agnina latitat mens
saepe lupina: copyright in the
marketplace
Giovanni B. Ramello

1 INTRODUCTION

The question of intellectual property and incentives for invention and
creation is one that has arisen repeatedly in the history of economic
thought.1 However, in recent decades it has developed in new directions that
have attracted particular attention. More specifically, the formulation of the
concept of innovation as a public good, introduced by Schumpeter (1943)
and supported by the empirical findings of Solow (1957), launched a flour-
ishing body of literature that has sought to justify intellectual property
rights as an essential ­ though admittedly imperfect (Arrow 1962) ­ tool
for stimulating technological progress. The present contribution focuses on
one specific type of intellectual property right, namely author's right or
copyright (the two terms will here be used synonymously2), which has today
taken on a primary role in economic systems.3
Nevertheless the application of economic analysis to copyright is
important not just for the purposes of measuring economic flows, but
also for evaluating how the right can influence the structure of the market,
the behaviours adopted by economic agents and the resultant competitive
outcomes. This, essentially, is the approach that has been taken in this
chapter.
In the following sections we shall focus in particular on the relationship
between the right's aims of providing an incentive for creative activities,
and the overall efficiency. It can in fact be shown that, even if the com-
modification of intellectual works by means of ...