Consumer survey on copyright access barriers

About the survey

This survey being will be used to gather evidence of consumers’ actual experience in trying to access and use materials in three areas covered by copyright: educational materials, softwareⁱ, films and music. Rather than focusing exclusively on legal barriers to the access and use of these materials, the survey will also seek to uncover evidence of other access barriers faced by consumers.

The first phase of the consumer survey, conducted during the second quarter of 2009, involved face-to-face interviews with over 150 consumers in 20 countries, to ascertain the nature of the barriers they faced in accessing and using copyright material. This first phase was an agenda-setting exercise for the development of a more detailed questionnaire that would be administered more widely in the second phase. The research outline and a handbook for conducting the first stage of the research (in English and Spanish) are available for download below.

An interim report on the first phase of the consumer survey, also available for download, was prepared as an input for the preparation of the second phase. Tentative conclusions suggested by the first phase research included that most consumers pay little attention to copyright laws (though greater attention seems to be paid in Africa than in Asia or Latin America), but that they may be willing to pay for legitimate goods over pirated alternatives because of their higher quality, if the price is reasonable.