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Batman Forever? The Role of Trademarks for Reuse in the US Comics Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Franziska Kaiser
  • Alexander Cuntz
  • Christian Peukert
Abstract
We study how trademarks affect reuse of creative works in the comics industry. As a creative industry, the comics industry systematically relies on copyrights. But trademark protection can also be exploited to generate income from the reuse of comic characters or to strategically exclude others from reuse. Our unique data set combines US trademark records of comic characters with information on reuse in print media and franchise products from 1990 to 2017. We find that, on average, additional trademark protection is associated with a reduction in reuse in printed comic books of about 19%. We highlight three mechanisms: first, the negative relationship between trademarking and reuse has been especially pronounced since the early 2000s, when the arrival of digital technologies lowered the costs of entry, promotion, and distribution. Second, our results are driven by less reuse by third parties, not trademark holders. Third, reuse is higher when trademark owners license comic characters to third parties. The negative association between trademarking and reuse carries over to franchise products, but it is weaker and tied to the era of digitization, with a 2% decline in reuse in franchise movies and 9% lower reuse in video games.

Suggested Citation

  • Franziska Kaiser & Alexander Cuntz & Christian Peukert, 2023. "Batman Forever? The Role of Trademarks for Reuse in the US Comics Industry," CESifo Working Paper Series 10389, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10389
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Luis Aguiar & Zhizhong Chen, 2024. "Let that Sync in: The Effect of Music Reuse on Product Discovery," CESifo Working Paper Series 11249, CESifo.
    2. Christian Peukert & Margaritha Windisch, 2023. "The Economics of Copyright in the Digital Age," CESifo Working Paper Series 10687, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    comics; trademarks; intellectual property rights; digitization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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