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After 10 years studying the economic and research impacts of the patent system, it was apparent to members of the National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) that another intellectual property regime, copyright, exhibited similar characteristics. Over the course of several decades, copyright protection has been extended and strengthened through legislative changes occasioned by national and international developments. The domestic industries reliant on copyright and its exceptions, and in some cases balancing the two, have become more important economically as sources of growth, high-paying jobs, and exports. And these industries have undergone a technological revolution that raises questions about the feasibility of some types of copyright protection, how incentives for content creation, distribution, and use are changing, and the copyright system’s impact on technological innovation. Unlike the patent system, however, copyright has not historically attracted the same level of research interest and effort that helps inform public policy choices. As a result, copyright debates are poorly informed by objective data and empirical research. The STEP Board concluded that in these circumstances a useful step would be to develop an agenda for empirical research on copyright in the digital era, explore its feasibility primarily in terms of data requirements, and encourage public and private research funders to pursue it.