Rick Boucher is at it again. A few years ago he gave us the Music Online Choice Act (MOCA), a bill that would have imposed compulsory licensing on the digital music market because it was so obvious that studios were going to dominate that market; hey, notice all the download services are independent of studios, and iTunes even has the market power to dictate retail price? Now he is back and has joined with John Doolittle to introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007. This is Boucher's latest iteration of his legislation to gut the DMCA, which he first introduced before the DMCA became law almost 10 years ago. This bill is at best unnecessary and at worst dangerous. Absolutely no part of the bill respects the rights of creators to designate through the market which rights will convey with their creations.

Continue reading Boucher and Doolittle, What Do You Have Against Creators? . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 5:21 PM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Content Controls , DMCA , DRM , Free Culture Movement , Legislation and Legislators , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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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 | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Content Controls , DRM , Free Culture Movement , Liberty and IP , Media

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CNET today ran an editorial by a guy trying to drum up business for his little company, although the author never owned up to his angle in the piece. Here the opening from Les Ottolenghi, CEO of Intent MediaWorks:

Once media-hungry consumers get a taste of free music, video and games through file sharing, there's no turning back. File sharing offers consumers the complete package: rich media delivered directly to their computers, phones and e-mail addresses at no charge. Why would anyone want to return to a linear distribution system that requires more effort, more money and more limitations?

And there's this:

Entertainment companies looking for a way to monetize their content need to stop chasing the consumer dollar. That ship has sailed. As consumers become more comfortable morally and technologically about file sharing, they will be less and less willing to part with their cash for content.

Yet he also makes this dubious claim, based on his other assertions:

The good news for the industry is that a huge fan base with a potential for extraordinary profit has emerged.

My first question was this: What the heck is this guy smoking and could it possibly be legal? My second question was this: Is he on to something?

Continue reading My Business Model Makes Angels Sing, Your Business Model Hates Consumers . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 12:07 PM | Content Controls , DRM , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , P2P , Theft of Service

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Interesting story in the Wall Street Journal today about the latest technology to scan the Internet looking for copyright violations -- it's a start-up in Redwood City (where else?) called Attributor, and it's backed by $10 million in venture capital. Among its backers is Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway, who also backs Snocap, a digital-music registry. Snocap, Audible Magic and other services seek to identify copyrighted audio files, usually in a certain space such as a peer-to-peer network or social networking site. Attributor plans to scour the entire Internet (although P2P isn't in the plans for now) searching not just for infringing music but images, video and text. (On that last one, text copying, Wikipedia will light up the service so much it might grind Attributor to a halt!)

Continue reading Attributor, Orphan Works and DRM . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 11:20 AM | Content Controls

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I learned something this morning -- the Free Culture Movement still hates copyrights. I probably could have guessed that without a stroll over to the National Press Club, though.

I attended this morning a press conference organized by CEA, Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, EFF and CCIA to announce a new coalition targeting copyrights. In anticipation of the event, PFF published a Progress Snapshot I wrote addressing the coalition titled "Recognizing the Vibrant Market for Digital Content." But my efforts to substantively and dispassionately address the vexing issues in the copyright debate were probably not needed, for the event never reached that level of depth.

Continue reading This Just In: Dogs Still Hate Cats . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 1:08 PM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Broadcast Flag , Content Controls , DMCA , DRM , Free Culture Movement , Legislation and Legislators , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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It seems almost daily we see more evidence of media makers and distributors pursuing increased revenues by trying to satisfy consumer wants. Here's the lede of an AP story by May Wong:

A film industry group is set to remove some of the procedural hurdles that prevented the legal recording of movies onto blank DVDs in a further sign that Hollywood studios are preparing to expand what consumers can do with downloadable movies.

Under rule changes expected to be finalized soon by the DVD Copy Control Association, retailers could create movie jukebox kiosks with which customers can select, say, an obscure title and burn it to a DVD on the spot.

Online merchants, like Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store, could start to allow video downloads to be transferred onto DVDs.

See more examples of market innovation and growth here and here.

Tell me again why we want to undermine the ability of creators to develop imaginative business models to meet the desired uses of the consumers of content?

posted by Patrick Ross @ 3:36 PM | Content Controls , DMCA , DRM , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

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I like to tell anyone who will listen that the content download industry is in its infancy. We have no idea which models for which content will appeal to consumers. We have no idea what new innovations await us. And it doesn't matter, because the market, if left alone, will sort all this out. It will also sort out a balance on DRM; picture those supply and demand curves from Econ 101, and you can picture the protection vs. usability curves of DRM. When the market reaches the equilibrium of "good enough" protection for content creators and "good enough" usability for end-users, everybody will win.

There's still more evidence that the market is moving toward that equilibrium. Two big news stories today support that. NBC has gone from protesting its content on YouTube (which it had every right to do) to striking a deal to place NBC content on YouTube (today's WSJ front page). Separately, Warner Bros. is going to sell and rent movies through Guba.com.

This daily flurry of announcements is just what you'd expect from a nascent market still finding its feet. Some experiments will fail, others will succeed, and those who failed will copy the successes. DRM will play some role in this -- Warner Bros. is using a Microsoft DRM for its Guba.com offerings -- so we'll get to let the market speak as to what extent it is willing to tolerate DRM in exchange for access to and flexible use of content.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 2:55 PM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Content Controls , DRM , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , Media

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Are the French coming to their senses in the copyright debate? It's hard to know, relying on generalized media reports in another continent, but an AP story by Laurence Frost and Nathalie Schuck suggests things may be looking up, particularly for artists. Remember, the core issue was iPod interoperability:

Continue reading The French Choose Artists? . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 1:00 PM | Content Controls , DRM , International , Media

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InfoWorld reports that the French Senate has backed off of its iTunes-killing efforts to force interoperability of digital music players and services. What, the French acting reasonably? That's generally as likely to happen as Carrot Top being funny.

It appears there is a way for Apple to keep its FairPlay technology a secret, and it won't have to share its source code, which will drive the open source folks absolutely nuts. (I remember reading on some blogs that there would be big demonstrations in France in support of the original legislation and mandated interoperability; wonder what happened to those big demonstration? Maybe everyone was tired from protesting legislation that would take a baby step toward creating a fluid job market.)

No word in the story about other provisions in the bill, such as language that would all but legitimize unauthorized P2P downloading. If anyone has a copy of the latest bill (in English, please!) I'd appreciate it being sent my way.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 4:25 PM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Content Controls , DRM , Legislation and Legislators , P2P

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Kudos to Warner Bros. for working out distribution of movies on BitTorrent. The BitTorrent technology truly is amazing, but unfortunately like so many new technologies in the digital world it was quickly embraced by those disrespectful of intellectual property before legitimate market forces could move in. Kudos also to the folks behind BitTorrent for working with studios to help its service respect artists' rights.

That said, I won't be using this new service, although I purchase Warner Bros. movies (I own all 4 Harry Potter DVDs). I want to watch movies on my TV, not my computer, and so far Warner Bros. is doing the same thing you find with the movie download services; recording permitted only onto DVD for backup, and the DVD can only be played on the original computer. The motion picture industry needs to move in the direction of the recording industry, which licenses services that permit the downloading of songs and the transfer of those songs onto other devices, including CDs.

One thing to keep track of -- if BitTorrent begins carrying more legitimate traffic and becomes more than just a fun tool for WELL types, then there will be a serious need for bandwidth, and as my colleague Adam points out, under net neutrality regulations we likely won't see that bandwidth. Downloaded video will stay on the computer.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 12:22 PM | Content Controls , DRM , Internet , Internet , P2P

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 4:22 PM | Content Controls , DRM , Free Culture Movement , Internet , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , Media , Prices

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:25 AM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Content Controls , DRM , Internet , Legislation and Legislators , Liberty and IP , Prices

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 2:22 PM | Content Controls , DMCA , International , P2P

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posted by James DeLong @ 8:58 AM | Content Controls

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