Transaction Costs of Copyright Clearance

SEPTEMBER 28, 2007

“The indirect costs in higher education (through delays and difficulties in clearing rights) are very hard to estimate. [SCONUL has] attempted an estimate of the static costs in higher education and have arrived at a minimum figure of the order of 30 M/year.” [emphasis added]

Source: SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) submission to Gowers review quoted at para 51 of the British Academy report on Copyright and research in the humanities and social sciences.

Note that this is not the costs of the copyrights themselves (i.e. payments to use the copyright work) but £30 million in transaction costs related to copyright clearance.