IPcentral Weblog: April 2005 Archives

April 2005 Archives

(previous | next)

04.28.2005

Bill Gates on IP

It was a packed house at the Library of Congress' Madison Building yesterday, and while I respect Pat Leahy and David Dreier, the crowd wasn't there to hear them speak. The draw was a different panelist -- Bill Gates was in town, slumping and rumpled as ever. A warning against flash photography was issued to the crowd before Gates came out, then they ushered the two dozen or so professional photographers to the front to snap pictures for a couple of minutes (they were the only ones getting to use a flash, and only in that brief period). I attended with Jim DeLong, and told him that at our next Congressional Seminar I would have the same procedure for photographs of him. I'm not sure if he found that amusing.

Beyond admiring the scene and marveling at the fact that the richest man in the world can't afford a suit that fits his small, lean frame, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Gates had a lot of interesting things to say. I think my journalist friends were frustrated at the lack of "headline" quotes, but Gates said one thing that clearly resonated with me, and it dealt with, not surprisingly, intellectual property.

Continue reading Bill Gates on IP . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 4:22 PM | International

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (2)| Post a Comment (0)

04.27.2005

New Copyright Law

Kudos to President Bush for signing into law S-167, which among other things bans camcording in movie theaters, includes stiff penalties for prereleasing works and seeks to bring more "orphan works" into public use.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 4:45 PM | Legislation and Legislators

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (1)| Post a Comment (0)

Privacy v. Piracy

That was the issue in RIAA v. Verizon, at least according to VZ. It was the issue today in a federal magistrate's decision saying two North Carolina universities don't have to disclose the identities of suspected file sharers to the RIAA.

I'm an absolute nut about privacy. (I once mortified a date by getting into a very loud argument with a Blockbuster employee when I refused to put my Social Security number on the membership application.) Privacy is eroding in our society, I see it every day. But I don't see how this is a privacy issue.

Continue reading Privacy v. Piracy . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 3:57 PM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

04.26.2005

More Competition

My Napster To Go service now has competition, with RealNetworks announcing Rhapsody To Go. (I wish I had taken out trademark rights on the phrase "To Go," I promise my licensing terms would have been reasonable.) They're offering basically the same amount of songs for the same monthly subscription price on what appears to be the same players (they are also using the Janus DRM technology).

Will Napster survive the competition? I believe they can. But the one concern I've had with having all of this "virtual" music was that Napster might go under and my new music library would disappear. If that happens now, and Rhapsody lives on, I can just take my business there.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 12:08 PM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

From the Senate Hearings on Patent Reform

Patently-O offers highlights on the Senate Hearings on patent reform, and a few concise remarks. Much attention is being paid, properly, to the provision that would limit injunctive relief in favor of damages, which faces strong opposition. The difficulty is that if an injuction is too easy to obtain (because of the strong presumption in favor of validity of a patent, coupled with the "bad patents" problem), enterprises face the problem of someone popping up, claiming a patent on, say, "The Wheel," and enjoining the entire economy. The proposed reform, though, goes too far; anyone can rip off an invention so long as they can pay what becomes in effect a regulated rate. There's a place, perhaps, for limiting preliminary injuctions, if the alleged violator can make an initial showing that there is reason to doubt the validity of the patent. As Patently-O notes, David Simon of Intel proposes leaving the question of whether an injunction will issue to the courts, to consider the equities of the situation. This to me seems to offer inventors insufficient protection--some sort of standard ought to be supplied.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:11 AM | Legislation and Legislators , Patents

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

"Thar's Gold in Them There Molecules!"

Red Herring reports on a recent study of IP in nanotech:

With 3,818 U.S. patents awarded and 1,777 patent applications awaiting judgment, the young nanotechnology field has an unwieldy mess of intellectual property (IP), . . . .
To avoid the perils of IP battles in the software industry, nanotech firms should pool their patents and initiate joint-licensing schemes, said the study by Lux Research.

Continue reading "Thar's Gold in Them There Molecules!" . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 8:56 AM | Patents

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

04.25.2005

UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day

was on Saturday, April 23, for the 10th year.

The date was chosen because Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died on April 23, 1616.

posted by James DeLong @ 11:16 AM |

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

Patent Quality

The Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property of the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on April 21 on Patent Quality Improvement.

Links to the Committee Print bill and to witness statements are here.

Another hearing is set for April 28. The final witness list has not yet gelled, but one participant will be Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft and founder of Intellectual Ventures.

UPGRADE (12:00 noon): The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding hearings today, says C|Net News:

Among those scheduled to testify: Segway inventor Dean Kamen, and lawyers for Intel and Micron Technologies. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is debating whether to permit U.S.-style software patents, a move that's opposed by free software advocates.

posted by James DeLong @ 10:30 AM | Patents

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

The Media

Adam Thierer thinks about How Google and the Internet are Challenging Traditional Media.

posted by James DeLong @ 9:01 AM |

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

P2P & Independent Artists

In debates over the ethics of unpaid P2P file-sharing, an oft-heard argument is that new artists like it because they can expose their work to the world, and that evil record labels take all the money anyway so that the unauthorized downloader is only engaged in Robin Hood-like taking from them and not from the artists.

Check out Digital Onramp, which bills itself as:

[T]he easiest, most cost-effective way for independent artists and labels worldwide to distribute their music online.
By distributing music through established DMI digital distribution channels, independent artists and labels immediately gain improved worldwide exposure and increased sales opportunities.

Continue reading P2P & Independent Artists . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 8:48 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)

04.22.2005

Nathan Myhrvold,

posted by James DeLong @ 9:53 AM | Patents

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | TrackBacks (0)| Post a Comment (0)