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Alec French of NBC Universal comments on Solveig's post on IP and rent-seeking:
Those seeking limitations on IP rights are often the real rent seekers - they ask the government to limit the rights of copyright holders in order to benefit themselves. Like the cable, satellite, and webcasting industries before them, elements of the P2P industry seek a compulsory copyright license at the expense of copyright holders in order to benefit their business models and business interests. Similarly, "public interest" entities often ask government to create exceptions to copyright, like the TEACH Act, so they can make certain uses of copyrighted works without having to seek licenses from copyright holders. Solveig says:
It ties in to another theme of ours, which also is coming up with the controversy over Google--people seem to have this idea that if they are doing something "of value" whatever it is, that they should be able to do it for free. Whereas the argument that something is of value, to me suggests that, well, then surely one ought to be willing to pay for it. Otherwise one is left arguing that one should pay more for things of less value. I agree with both of them (surprise!). A few weeks ago, Business Week ran a story "It's a Whole New Web!" (subscription required) that looked at business models for taking advantage of connectedness. Most of them seemed oriented around the question "How can we free ride on what others are doing?"
This is not a viable long-term approach. Many years ago, I heard the great de-regulatory economist Alfred Kahn on a radio call-in show, and I still remember the wearied exasperation in his voice as said, in response to one perpetual-motion-machine-style argument: "But we cannot all of us subsidize all of us! The system just does not work that way!"
Similarly with the Internet, or IP generally, or telecom, or any other field you want to name: We cannot all free ride. But in an effort to make us all think we are getting a free ride, the regulators will, in the classic phrase, "blacken the sky with criss-crossing dollars."
posted by James DeLong @ 9:19 AM | Liberty and IP
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