Category Surveys and Data

The Decline of Online Piracy: How Markets – Not Enforcement – Drive Down Copyright Infringement

[João Quintais and Joost Poort] Abstract: This article... combines different sources and empirical methods, including consumer surveys among nearly 35.000 respondents and comparative legal research. Our main conclusion is that online piracy is declining. The key driver for this decline is the increasing availability of affordable legal content, rather than enforcement measures. Where the legal supply of copyright-protected content is affordable, convenient and diverse, consumers are willing to pay for it and abandon piracy.