IPcentral Weblog: February 2005 Archives

February 2005 Archives

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02.28.2005

Happy Birthday

From Infectious Greed: Musing About the Money Culture with Paul Kedrosky:

Matt Drudge, creator of the Drudge Report online scandal sheet, is having his tenth anniversary right about now. Yahoo, the online search firm, is turning ten this week. Amazon.com, that late-bloomer, turns ten this summer.
In case you hadn't noticed, the Internet is no longer new. Granted, the underlying technology has been around since the 1960s, so it is already middle-aged. But most of us, myself included, think the modern Internet started when the first Netscape browser appeared in late 1994. Yahoo, Amazon, and, yes, Drudge came along shortly thereafter.

And:

I sometimes wonder how we managed. I literally sit in my office now and then, while working on a document (online), reading articles (online), sending emails (online), and channel the spirit of a teenager wondering quasi-anthropologically what ancient 1980s society did in offices. What did people do? How did they communicate? It couldn't possibly have been by phone the whole time, could it? The mind boggles.

It is hard to remember those far-off days, isn't it?

posted by James DeLong @ 2:27 PM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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Things Change

To my shock, I learned this morning that WETA, the local NPR station, no longer broadcasts classical music. Instead, it has an endless stream of fatuous pontificators on world events (whoops -- I mean an "expand[ed] . . . portfolio of informative and enriching radio offerings"), principally from NPR and the BBC.

Oh well. Why should the public subsidize my taste for classical music, especially because my options are expanding rapidly? I can subscribe to Napster, or to satellite radio, or, at home, tune in to three channels of 24/7 classical over my cable TV connection.

It is indeed time for the broadcast model to change, and in the end I will benefit greatly from being able to vote with my money. So bring it on. Pay radio is the wave of the future, and hurrah!

But by the way, explain to me again: just why is it that my tax money should pay for you to listen to the BBC?

posted by James DeLong @ 1:37 PM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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Radical Ideas Reviewed: Can Contracts Substitute for IP?

In Milan, Professor Pascal Salin of the Universite Paris Dauphine delivered a challenging talk going to the fundamentals of intellectual property--asking, in effect, how can one in principle support IP at all? For it conflicts with physical property rights; it raises the troubling question of rights in ideas. He suggested in closing that protection for innovation could be established by contract, by being first-to-market, or other practices. Other IP scholars on the free-market side have from time to time raised similar fundamental arguments with the whole idea of IP.

It is possible, of course, to endlessly philosophize about this subject, and, believe me, I would do so if given the slightest encouragement... One way to slice this Gordian knot is by thinking about practicalities. What would it mean, in practice, for contract to substitute for intellectual property?

Continue reading Radical Ideas Reviewed: Can Contracts Substitute for IP? . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 1:05 PM | Digital Europe , General

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Site for Software Patent Info

Here is a useful site with a variety of links to articles on software patents. Enjoy!

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 1:04 PM | Patents , Software

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Chickens, Circling for a Landing

In connection with the eminent domain case of Kelo v. New London, argued last week in the Supreme Court, this blog noted the irony that a major beneficiary of the municipality's confiscatory action was Pfizer, a Pharma company that lives and dies by IP rights.

The following info was just received from Greg Aharonian:

- DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WANTS COMPULSORY LICENSING OF PATENTED DRUGS
An article on the online edition of American Prospect reports that a bill was introduced for the District of Columbia on February 1st authorizing the mayor of Washington, D.C., to declare a health emergency and, under eminent domain authority, issue a compulsory license to a generic firm to produce selected patented drugs. The companies would be given "just compensation". The sponsors recall how Republican HHS secretary Tommy Thompson threatened Bayer, the makers of Cipro, with the same tactic, and argue what's good for Republicans is good for everyone else. They also cite the Supreme Court decision Florida Prepaid, which they plan to satisfy by restricting sales of such drugs to public employees and Medicaid enrollees (Florida Prepaid ruled that states have some rights to infringe patents). A few other states are considering doing so as well. [bf added]

posted by James DeLong @ 10:57 AM | Pharma

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Swap Parties

No, not spouses (we don't deal with that here), but iPod tunes. Declan McCullagh comments:

There is a nice story today on page one of the Washington Post about iPod parties, where folks bring their iPods to play their favorite tunes, and even swap tunes. The article describes how one featured individual downloaded the files he was playing using a file-sharing program, SoulSeek. The Post does not declare its opposition, indeed you might say the Post is actually glorifying the participants and the process. But, I have to wonder whether the RIAA is going to file suit against the club and all its participants for stealing music.

I would note that a couple of years ago the Post was a major participant in legal efforts to shut down a website that reprinted news stories in the interest of stimulating political discussion, so one might expect a bit more sympathy for the importance of IP rights.

Once again, people who do this sort of thing are cheating their fellow iPod users because they are avoiding payment of their fair share of the costs of the service. If everyone engages in such activity, then the service will cease to exist, and there will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth -- plus politicians blathering about corporate greed. How about a few lectures on consumer greed?

CORRECTION (10:40 a.m.): Declan did not author the quoted comment; he was forwarding to his ListServ an email from Public Citizen's Paul Levy.

posted by James DeLong @ 9:17 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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Telecom Policy, IP, and the Economic Report

Kyle Dixon waxes optimistic about Administration policies on telecom.

Kyle, who seems to have actually read the Economic Report of the President, also notes its repeated references to the importance of property rights:

The President's chief economic advisors also stressed the need to promote investment and innovation by defining and protecting property rights. Again, sounds very familiar, especially with respect to such FCC policies as its decision not to force incumbent phone companies to lease their broadband networks to competitors. It also sounds familiar with respect to my colleagues' efforts to safeguard intellectual property as media companies struggle to develop business models that will be sustainable in the digital age.

posted by James DeLong @ 9:13 AM | General

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Spectrum Wars

The National Journal has made web-accessible Drew Clark's article "Spectrum Wars."

posted by James DeLong @ 8:37 AM | Spectrum & Wireless

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02.25.2005

Theft of Service

From the Media Stock Blog, eBay will no longer list DirecTV P4 cards because there are no lawful uses for such cards and because:

EBay does not permit the sale of items that have the sole purpose of facilitating access to cable or satellite television programming without authorization or payment. Stating that the item is for educational or test purposes will not legitimize a product that is otherwise inappropriate.

MSB lauds the action, but notes:

Despite its policies, Ebay still serves as a platform for buying and selling illicit and counterfeit items, such as this analog cable descrambler. In fact, many of the cable descrambler sold on Ebay come with laughable disclaimers similar to this one:
THIS UNIT IS FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY, YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR CABLE PROVIDER BEFORE USING.

posted by James DeLong @ 9:20 AM |

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Internet Advertising

The Interactive Advertising Board says:

Internet advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2004 came in at $2.7 billion while full-year revenue totaled just under $9.6 billion -- a 32 percent increase over 2003's total.

(Via Internet Stock Blog, which also has a pithy quotation from an executive of Martha Stewart Living on the value of content: "Distribution channels change, new platforms emerge, but great content always in demand.")

posted by James DeLong @ 9:08 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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02.24.2005

Huh?

posted by James DeLong @ 3:49 PM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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