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| Current Topic: Intellectual Property |
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New Ad Campaign Aimed at TiVo Owners |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:11 am EDT, May 21, 2002 |
A new breed of interactive TV commercial debuts today, aimed at the people most likely to skip them. Watch my ad, please! Ad Wizard: Hey! I noticed that no one is using video-on-demand to deliver real content, and no one wants to watch ads. The two must be made for each other! Let's use VOD to deliver ads! Isn't that a great idea? New Ad Campaign Aimed at TiVo Owners |
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A New Direction for Intellectual Property |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:12 am EDT, May 13, 2002 |
Perceiving an overly zealous culture of copyright protection, a group of law and technology scholars are setting up Creative Commons, a nonprofit company that will develop ways for artists, writers and others to easily designate their work as freely shareable. Creative Commons, which is to be officially announced this week at a technology conference in Santa Clara, Calif., has nearly a million dollars in start-up money. The firm's founders argue that the expansion of legal protection for intellectual property, like a 1998 law extending the term of copyright by 20 years, could inhibit creativity and innovation. But the main focus of Creative Commons will be on clearly identifying the material that is meant to be shared. The idea is that making it easier to place material in the public domain will in itself encourage more people to do so. ... Larry Lessig: "It's a way to mark the spaces people are allowed to walk on." ... Creative Commons ultimately plans to create a "conservancy" for donations of valuable intellectual property whose owners might opt for a tax break rather than selling it into private hands. A New Direction for Intellectual Property |
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Spreading by the Web, Pop's Bootleg Remix |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
7:01 am EDT, May 9, 2002 |
The song may sound familiar at first. But, suddenly, the recording changes course. As the recording moves on, it is clear that the song is neither fish nor fowl; it is a crossbreed. It is something that is completely different, often illegal and, thanks to the Internet, becoming explosively popular. "The best bootlegs don't sound like bootlegs; they work at a profound level, and actually sound like they are the original record." "It is a case of bootleggers bootlegging bootlegs." "It's my favorite record of the year so far." Neil Strauss on the latest fad in online music. Spreading by the Web, Pop's Bootleg Remix |
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Content's King | Inside.com |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
10:14 pm EDT, May 4, 2002 |
Jamie Kellner controls Turner's programming riches. What he does with them could speed up -- or slow down -- the transformation of television. ... "I'm a big believer we have to make television more convenient or we will drive the penetration of PVRs and things like that, which I'm not sure is good for the cable industry or the broadcast industry or the networks. ... Because of the ad skips.... It's theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial ... you're actually stealing the programming. This guy's comments are generating a lot of buzz in legal circles ... Content's King | Inside.com |
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Lawrence Lessig: The Thought Leader Interview |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:18 am EDT, May 2, 2002 |
The Stanford University law professor and cyberadvocate redefines the parameters of the Internet. A Q&A with Larry Lessig on his vision for a future of competition that will realize the NetÂ’s full potential as a catalyst for creativity and innovation. Stewart Brand: "Lawrence Lessig is a James Madison of our time, crafting the lineaments of a well-tempered cyberspace. Like Madison, Lessig is a model of balance, judgment, ingenuity, and persuasive argument." A brief Q&A with Lessig. Free registration required. (Use login "cypherpunks@foo.foo" with password "cypherpunks") Lawrence Lessig: The Thought Leader Interview |
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Long-Time File-Swappers Buy More Music, Not Less |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:00 pm EDT, Apr 27, 2002 |
Contrary to charges that Internet song-swapping is killing the music industry, new Jupiter Media Metrix research contends that experienced online song-swappers are more likely to buy new albums than average music fans, not less. ... "The boost outweighs the bust." The industry blames "mass copying and Internet piracy." ... The music industry has grown more reliant on a few smash hit records to generate much of its profit. [So has the film industry.] Another pointless "study" that just happens to serve the interests of those who commissioned it. People throw around percentages to prove "facts" that "explain" the situation. Why don't book publishers complain about the sales of printers and blank paper? Do we have a "piracy tax" on 8.5"x11" copy paper? Question: do writers for the New York Times feel cheated by the fact that anyone can read their stories "for free" online? Does a year's worth of a columnist's writings represent less personal effort than an album that an artist spent a year to produce? Long-Time File-Swappers Buy More Music, Not Less |
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Welcome to the War on Piracy |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:05 am EDT, Apr 20, 2002 |
Legislators and law enforcers will have to fight and win a "war" against online piracy in order for the digital marketplace to have any chance of realizing its full potential. "This war against piracy must be waged on several different fronts, including the commitment of adequate resources to law enforcement, the cooperation of various industry players, and the education of consumers. Only when the war against piracy is effectively waged and won, will businesses and consumers move in significant numbers to the online marketplace. [Copyright piracy] is growing exponentially with billions of unauthorized music downloads per month. Until we can stop the growth of piracy online, it will be difficult to truly create a marketplace that will work for digital online content." More silliness ... Obviously this guy didn't get the memo about cutting back on the "war" metaphors. These statements are so clearly baseless as to be meaningless. Billions per month, and growing exponentially? So in a few months, we'll have 100 trillion downloads per month? I think not. But who cares, any way? Why doesn't anyone recognize the success stories? The Wall Street Journal has a profitable online subscription service. Lexis-Nexis is popular and has been sustainable over a long period of time. The IEEE has a successful online library. Clearly there are no overwhelming technical challenges to running a successful business selling digital online content. I'm waiting for the intellectual property version of the film _Traffic_ ... Welcome to the War on Piracy |
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Music sales dip; Net seen as culprit |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:24 am EDT, Apr 17, 2002 |
Global music sales declined for the second consecutive year, a dip the recording industry blamed on the proliferation of free music swapping on the Internet. In 2001, worldwide music sales dropped 5% to $33.7B, according to a record industry lobbying group. That figure is down again from the 5% drop in 2000 to $37B. The recording industry maintained that demand for music has not waned. Industry: "The industry's problems reflect no fall in the popularity of recorded music: Rather, they reflect the fact that the commercial value of music is being widely devalued by mass copying and piracy." Analyst: "I think it's a very convenient scapegoat, but in reality ... is more complex." Sales in France, up 10%; in the UK, up 5%, due to "strong demand for local artists." If the music industry were run by telecom executives, the report would keep quiet about revenues and proclaim, "minutes listened are up 30% year over year! The Internet music sector is the scene of substantial future growth potential." If necessary, the record companies would sell some music to each other. ("I'll buy 2 million Britney Spears albums and sell you a million Jay Z's, plus the option to purchase up to ten million of Britney's future albums at $10 each.") I think the industry should listen to Jaron Lanier and do a little soul searching ... maybe people aren't buying the latest crap because it sounds just like the crap they bought ten years ago. I'm also rather suspicious of that "rock star" theory of Internet music. To me, the decline/absence of dominant superstars in recent years indicates that no one has what it takes. Elvis and The Beatles were stars not only because they were good, but because their music was new and different. Today ... who is truly new and different, yet still widely relevant? Music sales dip; Net seen as culprit |
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As Copyright Gets a Starring Role, We're Cast as the Villains |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
7:15 am EST, Mar 31, 2002 |
The entertainment industry has a problem: Not only are people sampling, sharing and swapping movies and music online, many don't even think they're stealing. The industry has tried to stop this in the courts without much lasting success, and its limited, clumsy Internet ventures haven't drawn many customers either. So the entertainment industry has turned to Congress for help. ... Your fair-use rights -- your ability to back up a record or put together your own music collection -- would be at the sufferance of copyright owners alone. ... Hollings's bill raises many questions. For instance, when did it become government's job to promote broadband and digital television in the first place? How will making TVs and computers less capable foster that goal? What's to stop the other 5.9 billion people on earth from making their own, non-copy-crippled hardware and software? And just why do we need this technological totalitarianism in the first place? It's not as though manufacturers won't help the entertainment industry. ... But no matter what wrappers and locks are put on content, that which can be seen or heard can be copied. And once it's been sent up on the Internet in an unprotected format, it's never coming down. ... If you want to retain the freedom to use things that you own, you should reject this trend. What can you do? ... Without [consumers'] dollars, the entertainment industry is doomed. Just ask Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America. "Without the consumer, we're dead," he said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We don't have a future." If the copyright lobby continues this arrogant pursuit of security at all costs, Valenti and his ilk are going to find out how true that statement is. In contrast to an article logged earlier, this Washington Post article takes a decidedly anti-CBDTA stance, encouraging consumers to write Congreess and boycott the crippled hardware. As Copyright Gets a Starring Role, We're Cast as the Villains |
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Dutch Court Clears Web Music Swapping |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
6:42 pm EST, Mar 29, 2002 |
In a setback for efforts to halt copyright abuse, a Dutch appeals court on Thursday told a technology firm it could distribute a software program that is designed to let users share music and films on the Internet. The ruling in the case between Internet software company KaZaA and Dutch music rights organization Buma Stemra overturned a decision in November in favor of the music industry. The music industry says rampant online piracy has severely damaged recording sales and the movie industry fears the same could happen to it as computers become more powerful. The Amsterdam Court of Justice ruled that KaZaA was not liable for any individuals' abuse of its software, which is being used by millions of people around the world every day to swap copyright-protected games, music, pictures and films. Dutch Court Clears Web Music Swapping |
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