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Global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of business software piracy: Benchmarking IPRs harmonization

Antonio Rodríguez Andrés (ADE y Economía, Camilo José Cela University, Madrid, Spain)
Simplice Asongu (African Governance and Development Institute, Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Journal of Economic Studies

ISSN: 0144-3585

Article publication date: 10 October 2016

385

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of software piracy to ease the benchmarking of current efforts toward harmonizing the standards and enforcements of intellectual property rights (henceforth IPRs) protection worldwide.

Design/methodology/approach

For that purpose, the authors estimate dynamic panel data models for 99 countries over the period 1994-2010.

Findings

The main finding suggest that, a genuine timeframe for standardizing IPRs laws in the fight against software piracy is most feasible within a horizon of 4.3-10.4 years. In other words, full (100 percent) convergence within the specified timeframe will mean the enforcements of IPRs regimes without distinction of nationality or locality within identified fundamental characteristics of software piracy. The absence of convergence (in absolute and conditional terms) for the World panel indicates that, blanket policies may not be effective unless they are contingent on the prevailing trajectories, dynamics and tendencies of software piracy. Policy implications and caveats are also discussed.

Originality/value

It is the first attempt to empirically assess the convergence of IPRs systems across countries.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are highly indebted to the editor and referees for useful comments.

Citation

Andrés, A.R. and Asongu, S. (2016), "Global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of business software piracy: Benchmarking IPRs harmonization", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 43 No. 5, pp. 780-800. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-06-2015-0093

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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