2008 OCT 13 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to a study from the United States, "In recent years, the issue of copyright protection for intellectual properties such as computer software, music CDs, and videos has become increasingly important. It is often claimed that illegal copying of intellectual property costs companies billions of dollars in lost revenues and reduces firms' incentives to innovate."

  "Some researchers have shown that copying can be beneficial to firms when there are strong network effects and copying expands the market. In this paper, we first examine the impact of illegal copying of software and other similar intellectual properties on firms' prices, profits, and quality choices, even when there are no network effects and the market is saturated. We show that contrary to the claims of manufacturers, there are conditions under which copying can increase firms' profits, lead to better quality products, and increase social welfare. This is because weaker copyright protection enables firms to reduce price competition by allowing price-sensitive consumers to copy. Thus, weaker copyright protection can serve as a coordination device to reduce price competition. We also examine how equilibrium copyright enforcement is affected by network externalities. In contrast to previous research, we show that strong network effects can sometimes lead to a firm choosing higher levels of copyright protection," wrote S. Jain and colleagues, Texas A&M University ...read more

  2008 OCT 13 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Seoul, South Korea, "Estimates of the prices customers are willing to pay for new products or services using responses from survey questionnaires are notoriously biased on the high side. An approach to obtaining more realistic estimates is suggested here, called the exaggeration bias-corrected contingent valuation method (EBC-CVM)."

  "The method is an alternative to conventional contingent valuation methods (CVMs) that have been used in economics and, to a lesser extent, in marketing. Two experiments and one field study are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method," wrote J.H. Park and colleagues, Dongduk Women's University ...read more

  2008 OCT 13 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Bombay, India, "The motion picture industry is characterized by a dynamic market environment, limited shelf space and product category management, and consequently, complex channel contracts specifying the split of box office revenue between distributors and exhibitors. Although such a contracting practice creates a considerable administrative effort and channel conflict, it is not clear whether such complexity is necessary for superior channel performance. ...read more