Main trends in royalty policy of database producers

Abstract

On the basis of an international inquiry concerning databases, producers and royalties, a comparative study of the answers coming from Europe and from North America shows great differences between database characteristics, conditions of use and amounts of royalties. One of these differences concerns the actions of government and for‐profit organisations. The number of these organisations, their activity in subject, type and volume of information, their policies as to conditions of use and amount of royalties, explains the different levels and evolutions of the information industry in these different countries.

Towards a new pricing structure for online databases

“…For many database producers this is an attractive scenario because it restores their former role as a publisher. 6. New pricing structure .…”

“…Although the client would be fairly paying for the information he purchases, it is like selling 'information by the pound'. As if thick books were more fun to read than thin books .... (6) Subscription cltarge for unlimited usage. Publishers will obviously favour the subscription mechanism, where the user pays a subscription fee in advance.…”

“…This causes an artifical barrier in optimally pricing databases. It has been estimated that about 50% of all North American databases are government produced, of which 50% again do not charge any royalties [6].…”