[pd-discuss] measuring the "PD effect"

Sat Sep 25 11:01:07 UTC 2010

Dear All,

Among the COMMUNIA network members (http://communia-project.eu)
we have been discussing the so-called "public domain effect",
that is, the increase in availability of works
as soon as the corresponding authors enter the public domain.

In Italy, the number of editions of works by Sigmund Freud have dramatically
increased in 2010:

2010: 36 works (by 10 different publishers)
2009: 5
2008: 4
2007: 2
2006: 1
2005: 1
2004: 0
2003: 1
2002: 0
2001: 1
2000: 0
1999: 1
.....

In the Czech Republic, Lukas Gruber has shown that works
by Karel Čapek reached 39 when he entered the PD (2009);
previously the corresponding number was between 4 and 10.

It would be great to hear from other countries on this list, too;
even a rudimentary search on an online bookstore database
could provide interesting figures, but it takes some local
knowledge about authors (and language):
anyone else wants to contribute?

Thanks, best,

juan carlos

prof. juan carlos de martin
coordinator - COMMUNIA project
http://communia-project.eu