[drn-discuss] UKPO consultations

Sat Oct 1 05:34:08 CDT 2005

Quoting Ian Brown <I.Brown at cs.ucl.ac.uk>:

> > Just imagine. It might contradict a position, only to have another 
> army
> > of economists find another position, and another army (for the 
> content
> > industry) find yet another.  So where will we turn when the 
> economists
> > disagree?
> 
> Your response, to those who believe economics is of little value in
> understanding these issues, is rather unconvincing I'm afraid.
> 

My point is that when economics inevitably breaks down (as we can see already with a 
number of different reports published) that it will be a *political* decision in the first case. 
That will take in wider implications such as national interest, knowledge-based economy 
discourses and private sector lobbying. Some realism about how the political economy of 
copyright is structured is needed, rather than tired old liberal categories of public and private 
sectors.