The Value of Public Domain Works

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The creative process within media firms is often characterised as a binary choice between licensing existing intellectual property or creating new intellectual property owned by the business. However, a third possibility exists, which is that creators draw upon material in the public domain, such as stories and ideas that are not protected by copyright. In the 2011 Review of Intellectual Property for the UK government, Ian Hargreaves suggested that "unduly rigid application of copyright law" may "block innovation" and "hamper growth". The greater availability of creative material may indeed provide greater opportunities for the UK media sector and particularly SMEs. While this claim is theoretically plausible, there have been no empirical studies of value creation from a public domain perspective. It is the aim of this knowledge exchange partnership to create a foundation for assessing the economic and social value that use of materials at the margins of copyright law brings to the UK economy.Three interrelated activities are proposed, each developed iteratively with the Intellectual Property Office, and supported by short placements of researchers:1. Mapping Public Domain ExploitationThe extent of exploitation of public domain works in commercial products is little understood. Researchers from Glasgow University and Bournemouth University will undertake an empirical study of the use of public domain content in digital interactive media (video games). Building upon previously published work to evaluate copyright exploitation in other domains, the researchers will apply an innovative content analysis methodology to UK video games published from 2003-2013. Credits and content will be analysed for the presence of licences, and public domain elements in story lines, settings, music, and other elements will be coded. This method will permit for the first time quantifying the role of the public domain in an important commercial market. 2. Business Models for the Exploitation of Public Domain WorksThis project will exchange knowledge between UK SMEs and policymakers around emergent business models, to facilitate informed policy decisions to benefit UK firms. Prior academic research has already established that media SMEs face difficult decisions around IP, particularly when choosing whether to create original material, license from a third party, or engage in contract work-for-hire. Qualitative research with UK transmedia SMEs will enable the project partners to develop insight about the potential role for public domain works in the media value chain. A quota sampling method will be used to ensure the applicability of findings across a range of markets, including print, mobile, TV and interactive games. 3. Forward-looking data on works entering public domainThere is no central database of works currently in the public domain. Calls to make available information on the upcoming entry of works into the public domain has prompted a number of initiatives across the EU to create 'public domain calculators', however these projects remain limited in scope or incomplete. The project will create a publically available database of UK literary works that entered the public domain since 1992 and those due to enter the public domain until 2023. Researchers will additionally conduct quantitative time series analysis on a sample of works to enable benchmarking the economic performance of works before and after they enter PD. The database will be publically hosted on a Copyright User Portal, a joint web resource to be managed by faculty from Bournemouth University and CREATe at the University of Glasgow.The knowledge exchange scheme will culminate in a major national conference bringing together policymakers, business managers, freelancers and academics. An associated 'hothouse' event will be hosted in which media SMEs will be invited to collaborate around a series of public domain business models.