IPcentral Weblog: July 2005 Archives

July 2005 Archives

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07.29.2005

Great Moments in Regulation

Ray Gifford notes a recent FCC order decreeing that any VoIP customer must have service cut off if he/she does not, by the end of August, acknowledge to the service provider an awareness that VoIP does not do an automatic 911 connection to your local emergency services.

In sum, because your phone service might not work perfectly in an emergency, the FCC is decreeing that you should have no phone service at all in an emergency.

As Dave Barry would say, you can't make this stuff up!

posted by James DeLong @ 9:09 AM | General

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Who Owns What (and Whom)?

The dispute between Microsoft and Google over the latter's hiring of Kai-Fu Lee raises fascinating issues of property rights.

An old adage of Wall Street says to be wary of investing in any firm whose capital assets go home every night at 5:00 p.m. But that is the whole tech world, which is built on IP. Some of this is protected by patents or copyrights, of course, and by brand names and customer lock-in or inertia, but a big chunk of it, and especially the inchoate ideas that represent THE FUTURE, are in the neurons of the workers. And this includes not just ideas generated by each worker on his or her own, but the ideas received from others and those produced by the synergistic hive as a whole.

Continue reading Who Owns What (and Whom)? . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 9:01 AM | General

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Patent Reform

On Tuesday, Lamar Smith circulated a new version of H.R. 2795, the Patent Reform Act of 2005. There is still no agreement among the major players, and this version eliminates the changes in injunction standards desired by the tech industry.

No formal action is expected before the recess. The wrangling is not over.

posted by James DeLong @ 8:28 AM | Patents

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07.28.2005

Voice of Reason

InfoWorld's John Udell talks about a security crisis that recently hit Firefox, and propounds the heresy that open source and Microsoft programmers can actually learn from and help each other (emphasis added):

[A] debate began, refracted through the lens of ideology. This time there was no Microsoft to blame. The open source underdogs had done this to themselves. And while some would argue it wasn’t Firefox’s fault -- since Greasemonkey is a user-installed extension -- Firefox took its share of the blame, just as Internet Explorer does when its add-ins cause trouble. . . . .
Continue reading Voice of Reason . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 2:50 PM | Software

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Taking Shots at Compulsory Licenses

Those readers concerned about the government's ability to manage IP compensation will enjoy PFF's latest Progress on Point, "Why Government Can't Be Trusted With Trust Funds: A 118-Year-Old Case Study Highlights the Dangers of Compulsory Licensing." It notes the frightening failure of the Department of the Interior to properly manage property rights for Indians who had their land taken in the 19th Century, and compares that to current models proposed by defenders of infringing P2P downloading that involve government taxation and rerouting of royalties. I note that in a 10-year suit still ongoing against the federal government, the fed's defense is that it's impossible to manage such a project, so they shouldn't be culpable.

I first introduced this paper when speaking last month at a symposium on IP hosted by the University of Maryland. A college student, clearly enamored with the Free Culture Movement, told me he had enjoyed the paper. What I enjoyed was that, even though it went after his heroes -- EFF, Fisher, Lessig, the Berkman Center -- he had no rebuttal to its arguments, and admitted he didn't care for compulsory licensing.

It's a start.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:38 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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The IP Biz

Royaltystat culls the SEC's database of Form 10Ks, and provides you, for a fee, of course, with information on royalty rates being charged for intangible assets, including Patents, Trademarks, Trade Names, Processes, Copyrights, and Goodwill.

posted by James DeLong @ 9:41 AM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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Brazil

James Glassman discusses the IP situation in Brazil. His conclusion:

As [Robert Shapiro, a former undersecretary of commerce in the Clinton Administration] writes, "Intellectual-property rights are not a form of foreign aid." Absolutely. We can't allow other nations to seize -- or extort our firms into giving up -- their IP assets.
Continue reading Brazil . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 9:04 AM | International

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More on File Sharers

Digital Music News has an interesting report on a new survey of illicit file sharers that found "file-sharers spent an average of $9.63 (5.52 pounds) per month on legal music, while their non-swapping counterparts spent only $2.21 (1.27 pounds) over the same period."

[The study's director says]: "The research clearly shows that music fans who break piracy laws are highly valuable customers. It also points out that they are eager to adopt legitimate music services in the future." The study also noted that these illegal file-sharers would go legit if label-sanctioned music services offered a "compelling experience" and a more comprehensive artist catalog.

The British Phonographic Industry is skeptical, noting that the use of the average obscures the fact that many of the sharers purchase zero.

Personally, I think the ethical case against file-sharing is thin when material is available through P2P networks that is not available through legitimate channels. But so much is now available legitimately that I am a bit skeptical of the justification offered by the sharers -- it looks like boilerplate rationalization. So how about some detail on just where the holes in the legit catalogues are these days? Because when material is available legitimately, the ethical case against illicit downloading is over-whelming.

posted by James DeLong @ 8:50 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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07.27.2005

No Gain Without Pain

Not being a golfer, I find this Detroit News story pretty funny:

Statistical studies show that the average handicap of recreational golfers hasn't come down in the past decade, despite the emergence of hot-faced drivers and soaring golf balls. . . . Golf course architect Arthur Hills [says]: "Often, they are at a disadvantage with this technology because the errant shots are traveling farther off-line then they did previously."

I am sure that with a little work one could translate this into a general philosophy of the tech world.

(Link from Infectious Greed, who notes: "my Callaway 454 uber-driver caus[es] me to regularly launch balls 280–300 yards, albeit far across other fairways and nearby service roads. It’s spectacular, of course, but neither safe nor particularly effective at reducing my score.")

posted by James DeLong @ 3:53 PM | General

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Satellite Radio: The Hype is Understated

Much has been made recently about the growth of satellite radio, and its impact on conventional stations. But for once the hype is probably understated.

In conventional radio, funded by sponsors, the audience is not the consumer. It is the product – ears to be sold to advertisers, who are the real consumers.

Continue reading Satellite Radio: The Hype is Understated . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 2:40 PM | Radio

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07.27.2005

More on Market Impact of P2P

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:58 AM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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