IPcentral Weblog: October 2006 Archives

October 2006 Archives

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10.31.2006

The Post on YouTube

While I give the Washington Post props for their fabulous three page comics spread and pretty extensive international coverage, I've learned over the years not to expect much from their business section. Still, that didn't prevent an article this morning from adding to my usual morning grumpiness.

Continue reading The Post on YouTube . . .

posted by Amy Smorodin @ 3:10 PM | Art , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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Cuban on YouTube

Mark Cuban reprints some speculation on the role that copyright issues played in the Google/YouTube deal.

Among other things, the anonymous author scoffs at the idea that the road to riches is user generated content:

In spite of the media "user generated" puff pieces it was clear to all involved that they generated that content by hooking up their TV tuner cards to their PCs.
Continue reading Cuban on YouTube . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 11:45 AM | Media: Video, Music...

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To the Slammer!

The U.S. Attorney for W.D. VA announced that one of the prime movers of the Elite Torrents website, which sytematically pirated all kinds of IP, is going to jail.

At its prime, the Elite Torrents network attracted more than 133,000 members and facilitated the illegal distribution of more than 2 million copies of movies, software, music, and games.

Good. Undermining the economic basis for the production of content is indeed an act of moral turpitude.

posted by James DeLong @ 11:13 AM | Enforcement & Remedies

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Compare and Contrast

To think about:

If entertainment producers promise this and produce this, people are going to notice. That business model will fail.

The iPod, Nintendo, and other DRM-based models have been around for a whole. They aren't failing. One might conclude that they are actually delivering something that people want.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:16 AM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Liberty and IP

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The Peculiar Economcs of Children's Entertainment

My post on TLF regarding peculiar economics, Thomas the Tank Engine, and other problems of teaching property rights to the very young.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:11 AM | Physical Property

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Rupert Murdoch -- Champion of the Little Guy!

The AP says:

MySpace.com will use "audio fingerprinting" technology to block users from uploading copyright music to the social networking site, the company said.
MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., said Monday it will review all music files uploaded by community members to their online profiles. The files will be run through a music database from Gracenote Inc.

"MySpace is staunchly committed to protecting artists' rights, whether those artists are on major labels or are independent acts," said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace chief executive and co-founder.

The company said users who repeatedly attempt to upload copyright music files will be permanently barred from the site.

This is not a surprise, since MySpace is part of a media empire that has huge investments in IP. It is also a good thing, since without the capacity to protect IP those investments cannot continue.

More to the point -- a point seldom adverted to by the copyleft -- simple, cheap enforcement of IP rights is essential for small creators. If the only way to enforce IP rights is via expensive litigation, then all IP must be owned by the Murdochs of the world, who can hire lawyers by the ton. So they will pay small creators a pittance, take the IP, and reap the benefits. (As will the lawyers, of course.)

If enforcement is via computer program, so the cost can be spread across millions of creations, and if it is accessible to all creators, then the creators get whatever market power the popularity of their creations earns them.

Rupert Murdoch -- Champion of the little guy! Instrument of democracy! I like the concept -- maybe I can sell it to TV, with Brad Pitt as the star, after his rumored turn as John Galt.

posted by James DeLong @ 7:07 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc.

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10.30.2006

Long Tail vs. Making Money

Recognizing the wisdom of Chris Anderson's Long Tail insight even if it seems to have been overinflated, I want it to be true and I like the notion that resellers of content in the digital age can make more money off of content in the Long Tail. But if I'm an online seller of, say, books and I'm selling not the top 100 bestsellers but books 101-100,000, I may do okay, but how much better does the author of book 100,000 do? Probably not that much better.

That is the key insight that has been left out of the Long Tail debate but is presented eloquently by Mark Cuban (that was hard for me to write, as a Suns fan I find his basketball team to be a bunch of whiners and thugs).

"No content creator wants to be on the Long Tail," Cuban writes, and I agree. A number of his commenters disagree, but either (a) they don't really want to make money, so they're irrelevant in a discussion that deals with profit, or (b) they operate in a niche, in which case they may be at the top of their niche curve. Cuban says that naturally any content holder wants to move up the "vert ramp" to a higher point on the curve (more sales) and to do that will likely need Other People's Money (OPM). Cuban runs a cable network and has funded major motion pictures, so he knows a little bit about the kind of money needed to move content up the Long Tail.

This analysis will severely disturb some people out there.

Continue reading Long Tail vs. Making Money . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 1:57 PM | Free Culture Movement

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MNCs Bring Benefits to India

An Adobe India SVP writes in The Financial Express about the influx of MNCs into India, and how thats brought more innovation and respect for IPRs to the country.

Excerpts:

...Today, one can see a paradigm shift in the attitude towards protecting IP. Engineering talent in India has realised the importance of innovation, and of filing patents and protecting their innovation. One would wonder how did this consciousness come about in country where IP laws are frail and where respect for innovation is almost absent? We certainly have the globalisation and IT boom in the country to thank…

Continue reading MNCs Bring Benefits to India . . .

posted by Noel Le @ 1:57 PM | International , Patents

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Microsoft & Net Neutrality

See here.

posted by James DeLong @ 12:49 PM | Telecom

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My Daughter the Capitalist

Loyal readers of this blog know that last school year my daughter engaged in a bit of plagiarism in a school essay on Jesse Owens. Since that time we've had many discussions about the value of intellectual property.

This weekend brought two bits of pride to her father. One, she wrote a 5-paragraph essay for school on Egyptian culture and used all her own words (it was a good read, too, I learned a lot about mummies). Two, she showed an understanding of the patent system that the commons movement still lacks.

Continue reading My Daughter the Capitalist . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:55 AM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , Patents

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10.30.2006

KSR and the Patent Examiner

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:36 AM | Patents , Supreme Court

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