Arai and Kinukawa (2014)
Contents
Source Details
Arai and Kinukawa (2014) | |
Title: | Copyright infringement as user innovation |
Author(s): | Arai, Y., Kinukawa, S. |
Year: | 2014 |
Citation: | Arai, Y. and Kinukawa, S., 2014. Copyright infringement as user innovation. Journal of Cultural Economics, 38(2), pp.131-144. |
Link(s): | Definitive |
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About the Data | |
Data Description: | This study proposes an economic model and does not use any original data. It utilises a literature review. |
Data Type: | Secondary data |
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Data Analysis Methods: | |
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Cross Country Study?: | No |
Comparative Study?: | No |
Literature review?: | No |
Government or policy study?: | No |
Time Period(s) of Collection: | |
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Abstract
"Copyright holders of major manga and anime in Japan have been ignoring copyright infringement by dojinshi (or doujinshi), a Japanese word referring to self-published works created predominately by amateurs. Many of dojinshi are derivative works of popular anime or manga but are sold without official permissions from the copyright holders. Thus, it is highly possible that the activity of dojinshi creators violates Article 28 of the Copyright Law of Japan, which states the rights of original authors in the situation of exploitation by derivative works. We demonstrate that ignoring copyright infringement by a derivative creator can be optimal for the copyright holder based on an economic model that incorporates both positive and negative externalities of derivative work. We also demonstrate that when unauthorized use of the copyrighted work is optimal for the copyright holder, it is also optimal for social welfare although the opposite is not necessarily true."
Main Results of the Study
The authors present an economic model and use this model to demonstrate that ignoring the unauthorized use of an original work can maximize the profits of the copyright holder of the original work, though depending on the derivative work’s new styles and ideas, negative externalities, and market size. Then, we prove that when the unauthorized use of the original work maximizes the copyright holder’s profits, it also maximizes social welfare although the opposite is not necessarily true. It can be inferred that the current situation in Japan, in which major anime studios and manga publishers are ignoring copyright infringement by dojinshi, is socially desirable.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
The Japanese government is currently considering the introduction of fair use in the Copyright Law of Japan. In the US, copyrighted cartoon characters have been stringently protected despiteauthorization from the Supreme Court for a broad reading of parody, a form of fair use. To sustain the competitiveness of the Japanese anime and manga industries, the fair use in Japan should be less strict than that in the US with regard to the use of copyrighted graphical characters by derivative creators, unless the resulting negative externalities are sufficiently large.
Coverage of Study
Datasets
Sample size: | 1 |
Level of aggregation: | Case study |
Period of material under study: | 2012 |