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66 Fla. L. Rev. 261 (2014)
The Public Perception of Intellectual Property

handle is hein.journals/uflr66 and id is 269 raw text is: THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Gregory N. Mandel*
Abstract
Though the success of intellectual property law depends upon its
ability to affect human perception and behavior, the public psychology
of intellectual property has barely been explored. Over 1,700 U.S.
adults took part in an experimental study designed to investigate
popular conceptions of intellectual property rights. Respondents' views
of what intellectual property rights ought to be differed substantially
from what intellectual property law actually provides, and popular
conceptions of the basis for intellectual property rights were contrary to
commonly accepted bases relied upon in legal and policy decision-
making. Linear regression analysis reveals previously unrecognized
cultural divides concerning intellectual property law based upon
respondents' income, age, education, political ideology, and gender.
INTRODUCTION      .................................................................................... 262
I.   INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW ............................................ 265
A.   Copyright and Patent Law ............................................ 266
B. Intellectual Property Policy .......................................... 268
C. Intellectual Property Debates ....................................... 271
D. Influence of the Public Psychology of
Intellectual Property ...................................................... 274
II.   EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ..................................................... 278
A .  M ethodology   .................................................................. 278
B .  R esults  ........................................................................... 279
1.   Scenario One: Infringement ................................... 279
2.   Scenario Two: Creativity Threshold ...................... 281
3.   Scenario Three: Independent Creators ................... 282
* Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law & Associate Dean for Research, Temple
University-Beasley School of Law. J.D., Stanford Law School; B.A., Wesleyan University. I
am grateful for very helpful comments on earlier drafts of this work from Barton Beebe, Chris
Buccafusco, Jeanne Fromer, Shubha Ghosh, Dave Hoffman, Tim Holbrook, Joe Miller, and
Kristina Olson, and for valuable feedback from participants at the American Psychological
Association's Psychology-Law 2012 Annual Meeting, the 2012 Intellectual Property Scholars
Conference at Stanford Law School, the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Patents Works-in-Progress
Conference at American University College of Law, and the 2013 Tri-State IP Workshop at
NYU School of Law. I also want to thank Marisa Johns, Ed Pak, and Chad Stouffer for their
outstanding research assistance on this project. Finally, I am very grateful to SurveyMonkey for
its generous support of this research through providing the study participants.

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