Copyrights, criminal sanctions and economic rents: applying the rent seeking model to the criminal law formulation process.

The writer argues that the traditional public choice model of rent seeking can explain the increase in criminal sanctions for copyright infringements. He notes how the penalties for infringement of a copyright have increased since the 1970s and contends that the decision to increase criminal penalt...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology Vol. 87; pp. 1470 - 1511
Main Author: Saperstein, Lanier
Format: Article
Published: Northwestern University Summer97
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:The writer argues that the traditional public choice model of rent seeking can explain the increase in criminal sanctions for copyright infringements. He notes how the penalties for infringement of a copyright have increased since the 1970s and contends that the decision to increase criminal penalties was driven by interest groups seeking copyrights protected by criminal sanctions as a means of restricting entry into an increasingly profitable market.