Pirated for profit.

This paper explains why a software manufacturer may permit limited piracy of its software. Piracy can be viewed as a form of price discrimination in which the manufacturer sells some of the software at a price of zero. In the presence of significant network externalities for the software, it may b...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Canadian Journal of Economics Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 886 - 900
Autores principales: Slive, Joshua, Bernhardt, Dan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell October 1998
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This paper explains why a software manufacturer may permit limited piracy of its software. Piracy can be viewed as a form of price discrimination in which the manufacturer sells some of the software at a price of zero. In the presence of significant network externalities for the software, it may be profit maximizing for the software manufacturer to tolerate piracy by home consumers, most of whom have a low willingness to pay. This can increase the demand for the software by business users. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.