Hi all,

As some of you may recall, the Observatory on Intellectual Property Rights Infringements hosted by the EU Intellectual Property Office in Alicante is running a study on the "economic contribution of the public domain". They are mostly looking at the film sector are trying to see what part of the added value/revenue of the film industry is based on PD. We are expecting this study to be published this year. Well behind schedule, but the research team is having a hard time coming up with credible variables (e.g. How much of the box office income of "Gnomeo & Julliet" can be attributed to Shakespeare's PD work?).

Good news is that this will not be the end of the line. For the 2017 work programme we have managed to include a follow-up study:

ES3. Study of open licensing: In 2016, the Observatory analysed the economic impact of public domain works in the film industry. This work will be expanded to other types of content in 2017, for example the value of information sources such as Wikipedia, or the value of open-source software, and issues such as infringement or misuse of open source content.

The exact scope and focus will be negotiated later this year.

Cheers,

Dimi