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Digitization and Availability of Artworks in Online Museum Collections

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Cuntz
  • Paul J. Heald
  • Matthias Sahli

Abstract

We provide quantitative evidence from museum collections about how copyright status affects the availability of digital images of artworks. The paper applies a regression discontinuity and differences-in-differences design to estimate online availability of artworks from U.S. collections on digital platforms. We find a strong increase in the availability of digital surrogates when copyright is perceived to expire and original artworks are likely to transition to the public domain. Moreover, artworks and surrogates made available see a large number of downstream reuses based on google image search data, which indicates online availability is of commercial and public value independent of right status. Notably, we show that upstream surrogates of public domain artworks made available by museums are positively correlated with higher image resolution quality as compared to digitized artworks still protected under copyright laws. At the same time, it seems expressed industry norms can help encourage U.S. museums to also make low-resolution surrogates of copyrighted artworks available.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Cuntz & Paul J. Heald & Matthias Sahli, 2023. "Digitization and Availability of Artworks in Online Museum Collections," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 75, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:wip:wpaper:75
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    File URL: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-econstat-wp-75-en-digitization-and-availability-of-artworks-in-online-museum-collections.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul J. Heald, 2014. "How Copyright Keeps Works Disappeared," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 829-866, December.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Copyright; museum; digitization; creative industries; availability; public domain; paintings; images; empirical;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L17 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Open Source Products and Markets
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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