Quantifying the evolution of copyright and trademark law

This research compiles two time series, cross-sectional indices of the relative strengths of copyright and trademark laws around the world from 1965 until 2002. This study is motivated by the need to understand the effects of different strength copyright and trademark laws in an era when their very composition is being questioned. The first section examines methodologies used in large-scale indices as well as previous copyright and trademark indices. Sections two and three use national laws to develop separate indices for trademark and copyright, respectively. The final section examines the relationship among the strength of copyright protection and creative output, as measured by films submitted to the Cannes Film Festival. The empirical study finds a statistically significant positive relationship between film production and overall copyright strength in an economy. However, the research also finds there is no statistically significant relationship between the duration of film protection and film output.