IPcentral Weblog: DRM & Watermarks, etc. Archives

DRM & Watermarks, etc. Archives

(see all subjects)

11. 6.2007

Fair Use in Filtering

Bill Rosenblatt reports on EFF's and other's support for fair use in filtering. My take: A constructive step. It remains to be seen whether an objective "fair use" standard can be developed; and then again, whether it can be technologically implemented; if not, the answer will be a combination of process for "appeals" and simple licensing mechanisms.

In particular, this is a welcome departure from the "filtering is useless" stance. Certainly, filtering can be defeated. But ultimately something posted for public consumption must be in the clear. And not everyone will encrypt, especially if they are unaware that they are infringing. By and large, it ought to be possible to get copyright filtering for entire works to work at least as well as spam filtering--that is, not perfectly, but enough to get a handle on the problem.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 7:29 AM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , DRM & Watermarks, etc.

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

10.18.2007

Thoughts and Quotes on Google's Beta Filters

Coverage from CNET, Google Unveils YouTube Antipiracy Tool. (including comments from Bob Tur, plaintiff in another suit against YouTube).

And from ZDNET, a blog entry, "Google's YouTube Copyright Tool: Potential Annoyance, Viacom Settlement Fodder."

And Chris Castle's pointed remarks.

Meanwhile, the courts work out how strong filtering needs to be, once liability is established.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 3:54 PM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

09.11.2007

Investor's Business Daily on Filtering

Brian Deagon's August 6, 2007 article in Investor's Business Daily, August 6, 2007, "Technology Doomed To Failure, Some Critics Say," includes some remarks about filtering worth thinking about. The assurance of the quoted critics is convincing, but they seem to be missing a good part of the picture.

Continue reading Investor's Business Daily on Filtering . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:11 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc.

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

09. 6.2007

Apple and Interoperability

Scholars from Northwestern University have released research on legal frameworks with which to analyze Apple's DRM and file format business strategies- Nicola Sharpe and Olufunmilayo Arewa, Is Apple Playing Fair? Navigating the iPod FairPlay DRM Controversy, 5 Nw. J. of Tech. & Intell. Prop. 332 (2007). The research addresses consumer welfare in light of controversies surrounding interoperability and Apple's business models. It proposes ways in which regulators may analyze the iPod/iTunes network in the context of the broader digital media market. The article concludes that Apple would be wise to encourage more third party interoperability with the iPod/iTunes network, for both legal and business reasons.

This is definitely not the first time Apple has been scrutinized for its non-"openness." However, I was impressed by the researchers' comprehensiveness in their discussion of antitrust, network effects and interoperability.

Continue reading Apple and Interoperability . . .

posted by Noel Le @ 6:21 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

09. 5.2007

Digital Rights Management Conference--NY on the 17th

Come to New York on September 17th to enjoy lively discussions of DRM. I'll be moderating a panel on DRM and consumer choice, with more, much more, to follow.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 1:35 PM | DRM & Watermarks, etc.

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

08.27.2007

More DRM Free, More Watermarking--for Music

DRM Watch reports on the latest developments, with watermarking ramping up and Universal going DRM Free. Walmart is also to go DRM free.

Continue reading More DRM Free, More Watermarking--for Music . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:19 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Media: Video, Music...

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

08.23.2007

Intellectual Property Baselines

IPR critics take broad swipes at copyright and patent policies. Two prominent arguments posit that 1) investments into creative productions and inventions can be appropriated by leveraging them as "advertising" for other products, such as t-shirts, 2) peer-production under alternative incentives is sufficient for innovation and continued economic growth. These arguments are fundamentally flawed, and will have drastic implications if set into regulatory policy.

A resource with which to analyze arguments against IPRs is Innovation and its Discontents, Princeton Univ Press (2004), where Professors Jaffe-Lerner outlined the basic tenets for patents. The scholars noted the relationship between innovation costs and marketing, as well as the role of commercialization. Its significant that in a book critiquing the current patent system, Jaffe-Lerner highlighted baselines for IPRs that critics have overlooked.

If there were no incentives for those who discover and develop new technology, it is likely that fewer innovations would be developed, slowing progress and the benefits it brings. Potential inventors realize that without adequate protection rivals will rapidly copy their discoveries, and that therefore innovation is at best an uncertain route to future profits. As a result, companies would be unlikely to spend significant amounts of money on R&D that is the source of new products and processes in a modern economy. They would instead choose to spend their money pursuing other activities- for example, marketing campaigns...
…
…our capitalist free-enterprise systems has demonstrated a unique ability to generate new technology: industrialized economies have increased their economic productivity more in the last two centuries than in all the millennia of previous human history. The basis for this advance is firms’ pursuit of profit, which forces them to innovate.

Society benefits from creators and innovators investing in more than selling t-shirts. Society needs innovation in IT, not ways of marketing t-shirts! Basic research-product development are high risk ventures, advertising for t-shirts is not. It’s a bit ironic that IPR critics would not have creators leverage the phenomenon known as the Internet for anything more than advertising. The difference in margins between delivering products/services online versus selling t-shirts alone suggest that enabling creators to tap the Internet would lend to more innovation and consumer welfare.

The second argument of IPR critics addressed by Jaffe-Lerner is equally problematic. FOSS, the holy grail of the peer-production movement, exemplifies why commercialization and profit motive remain important to society. The informal peer-production of FOSS has had limited success, and is only improving as it formalizes and receives commercial backing. Peer-production supporters may posit that IP holders are stifling innovation, but the argument is confused. Stifled innovation would resemble the FOSS movement but the FOSS movement is not the result of it.

While IPR critics may be passionate about their views, they would little serve innovation nor other important societal interests.

posted by Noel Le @ 3:21 PM | Academia , DMCA , DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Free Culture Movement , Patents

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

08. 9.2007

Bill Rosenblatt on EMI's DRM-Free efforts

Bill is skeptical; sales are up, but not as much as some competitors. But if they aren't actually losing money, should they be worried yet? Perhaps not. We'll air these issues in Aspen in a bit. But it is some confirmation that consumers do not care much about DRM versus no DRM as they do about the nature and quality of the content.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:45 PM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

08. 6.2007

Fake Steve Busted

Fake Steve Jobs, author of this jab at Linux and the anti-DRM crowd among other things, is really Dan Lyons of Forbes, reveals the New York Times.

Dang, that man can write.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 11:19 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Software

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (3)

08. 2.2007

Expectations, Great, Better, and Best of all, Adaptive

There's enormous interplay between the policy landscape and people's expectations. Easy to forget, because expectations are an awful lot like assumptions... taken for granted.

DRMWatch reports on two new surveys finding that consumers are more accepting of DRM.

Continue reading Expectations, Great, Better, and Best of all, Adaptive . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:13 PM | DRM & Watermarks, etc.

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

07.31.2007

YouTube Filter Update--and Civil Liberties

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:01 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Enforcement & Remedies , Liberty and IP , Privacy and Security

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

07.18.2007

MPAA Comments on Net Neutrality

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:14 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , Infrastructure , Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)