Estimating the Economic Effects of Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions: A Critique of Recent Researchin Australia, US, Europe and Singapore

Since 2002 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has supported research on assessing the economic contribution of industries which are dependent on copyright and related rights protection the copyright industries (CRI) . In 2003 WIPO published common guidelines on carrying out such research throughout the world (WIPO 2003, 2012a, 2012b). This paper presents a critique of a number of recent studies which have departed from the widely accepted WIPO approach outlined above and instead attempted to estimate the economic effects of what they call copyright exceptions industries (CEI) that rely on exceptions to copyright law . These studies in effect attempt to challenge the approach of the WIPO and assert that exceptions to copyright law might make a larger economic contribution than copyright law itself.