| Abstract: | Many goods and services are thought to be most efficiently provided under monopoly or oligopoly conditions. For instance, copyright is generally deemed of great value to authors, artists, and the public, an essential element to an efficient market in intellectual and artistic creation. Yet, evidence suggests this esteem may not be entirely justified. Copyright for a particular medium is valuable to the author or to society only when certain economic and technological conditions obtain—such as a market for subsidiary uses, a high fixed cost of copying, and a market for copies. |
