Mark your calendars. I'll be speaking at The Maryland Center for the Study of IP's conference on copyright utopias, coming up in May

Copyright Utopia:
Alternative Visions, Methods & Policies
May 21-23, 2007
UMUC Inn & Conference Center, Adelphi, Maryland

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:53 AM | Commons

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I can resist no longer.

For nearly a week, a letter by CEA's Gary Shapiro has been bouncing around the ether. It responds to remarks made by Warner Bros. Entertainment Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer at a luncheon last week; I praised Meyer here. Gary's response shows, once again, a fundamental difference in his view of creative works from most creators of those works. Below the jump I'll explain where he is erring with his definition of "freedom," but I'll begin by pointing out the very misleading way in which CEA put Gary's letter out there.

Continue reading Redefining 'Freedom' . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 2:06 PM | Commons , Content Controls , DRM , Fair Use , Free Culture Movement , Liberty and IP , Media

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On Wednesday former journalist Andrew Gowers will release the findings of his U.K. government-commissioned study of U.K. copyright law. Great Britain has been a staunch defender of IP and IP has fueled creative and economic success there, so it begs the question, why have a commission at all? What's the problem? Not surprisingly, the existence of the commission has given some copyright defenders pause.

Gowers gave us a sneak peek of his findings in the Sunday Times (another hat-tip to Alec van Gelder). The piece reminded me of the speeches I read by EU officials related to the digital economy. I find myself agreeing with many of their points, then am concerned by the conclusions they seem to draw from those points.

Continue reading Gowers Sneak Peek . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:55 AM | Commons , Innovation , International , Internet , Legislation , Markets

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A copying tool for Second Life is developed for legitimate purposes via open source.
Second Life users with ill intent use the tool to copy anything in the virtual world, from clothing to cars.
Virtual retailers are angered, but there's no recourse in the virtual world.
Their only recourse, they're told by Linden Labs, is to file a DMCA complaint in the real world.
The victims of unauthorized copying complain DMCA isn't responsive enough.
Someone unconcerned with all the copying says those upset twith their stuff being ripped off are "RIAA-ish."
A news publication generally not sympathetic to copyright infringement seems to feel differently about virtual copying, with a headline "'Second Life' faces threat to its virtual economy." What, it's not an opportunity to further the public domain of Second Life?

You just cannot make this stuff up.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:21 AM | Commons , Counterfeit , DMCA , Free Culture Movement , Markets

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On Creative Commons Hack for Charity.

I have nothing against the Creative Commons license (or any other license for that matter), but I am beginning to find the economic gyrations that various organizations/entities go through in an attempt to support themselves without (gasps of horror) actually selling a product to a consumer rather ... surreal. Somebody must be spending a great deal of time constructing mental maps... it's okay to fund the provision of X to A by restricting the availability, not of X, but of Y, and by selling Y to C but not (god forbid) to A... One may accept money raised by the transfer of X service related to product to Y, but not from the transfer of product to Y. Oh dear. Is the resemblance to religion stronger than mere analogy?

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:43 AM | Commons , Free Culture Movement

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Chris Castle has another hilarious post on Sweden's Pirate Party and their failure to gain a seat in Parliament.

posted by Amy Smorodin @ 9:56 AM | Commons , Free Culture Movement , P2P

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RegisteredCommons is a service to be launched this weekend that will provide artists using Creative Commons licenses with a time-stamped proof of authorship. The explanation of benefits seems to have been translated from the German, and is not crystal clear. But to the extent that the service will reduce transaction costs and add to certainty in licensing (which seems to be its goal), it deserves three cheers.

posted by James DeLong @ 10:41 AM | Commons

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The rhetoric surrounding the "world-changing" nature of Digg, Google and Wikipedia borders on the messianic. Every time I read the overheated rhetoric of the 2.0 adherents of these innovations, I look over my shoulder to see if the Rapture is upon us.

All three services have been dogged with complaints that they're not as pure and democratic as true believers hope. Google is aggressively fighting the system gaming of click fraud, which John Battelle in The Search (p. 187) estimates accounts for 25-30% of online search engine ad revenue. Wikipedia seems dogged by controversy on a daily basis. And now devotees of Digg have been complaining that the service appears not to be as user-driven and democratic as billed.

Donna Bogatin on the ZDNet blog does a great job of explaining the fierce resistance one faces from adherents any time a criticism is leveled against one of these services:

Continue reading Messiah Complex . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:23 AM | Academia , Commons , Free Culture Movement

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More evidence the nascent market is less nascent: Snocap is enabling MySpace to set up a music vendor service for any artist who wishes to participate, according to the New York Times. The writer wonders if this is an iTunes killer; that's not a question worth asking. The digital music market has so much room to grow, there will be a half-dozen outlets that dwarf iTunes' sales in just a few years. There's room for every business model that ensures artists are compensated.

Maybe now Eric Bowley and Andrew de Torres won't have to sleep on the floors of fans' houses, unless they want to that is.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:26 AM | Commons , Markets

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Entertainment lawyer Chris Castle has a brilliant posting on Sweden's Pirate Party here.

posted by Amy Smorodin @ 3:36 PM | Commons , Free Culture Movement , P2P , Public Domain

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 12:28 PM | Commons

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posted by Amy Smorodin @ 11:50 AM | Commons

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:31 AM | Commons

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 12:18 PM | Commons

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:08 AM | Commons

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posted by James DeLong @ 8:49 AM | Commons

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:15 AM | Commons , Free Culture Movement , Media

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posted by James DeLong @ 12:58 PM | Commons

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