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The relationship between copyright software protection and piracy: Evidence from europe

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Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between software protection and national piracy rates across 23 European countries over a period of three years (1994, 1997, and 2000). The analysis not only constructs a new index of copyright software protection but remedies previous econometric and methodological shortcomings by applying a macro level panel data technique. Results indicate that copyright software protection and income are the most determinant factors of software piracy. In addition, the model predicts an inverted U relationship between piracy and per capita income. Moreover, the above findings are robust to the inclusion of other descriptors suggested by the empirical literature on piracy.

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  1. Department of Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Antonio Rodríguez Andrés

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  1. Antonio Rodríguez Andrés
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JEL Classification O34 · L86

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Andrés, A.R. The relationship between copyright software protection and piracy: Evidence from europe. Eur J Law Econ 21, 29–51 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-006-5670-5

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