IP Would Kill a Nascent Web
The web is having a birthday. This month, we will have the 15th anniversary of the creation of the first web page. It is the birthday of Tim Berners-Lee’s amazing idea that there could be a worldwide web, linked not by spider silk but by hypertext links and transfer protocols and uniform resource locators.
There are three things that we need to understand about the web. First, it is more amazing than we think. Second, the conjunction of technologies that made the web successful was extremely unlikely. Third, we probably would not create it, or any technology like it, today. In fact, we would be more likely to cripple it, or declare it illegal.
James Boyle. Web’s Never-To-Be-Repeated Revolution. FT.com. Nov. 2, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Fighting “Property” In IP
“By lumping together the very real threat of the government taking people’s land with an imaginary threat of IP anarchists abolishing intellectual property, the copyright industry and its allies hope to portray themselves as defenders of traditional property rights. The problem is that their own copyright agenda is a radical departure from America’s copyright traditions.”
Tim Lee. What’s So Eminent About Public Domain? Reason. Oct. 31, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Microsoft Enters Digitization Wars
“Microsoft Corp. struck a deal Friday with the British Library to scan 100,000 books from its vast collection and make them freely available for reading and searching on the Internet next year.
“The move by the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is the latest foray into a hotly competitive battle among the leading Internet players over digitizing that old-fashioned favorite, the printed book.”
David A. Vise. Microsoft to Offer 100,000 Books Free Online. WashingtonPost.com. Nov. 5, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Random House & Amazon Launch Digitization Project
“As Google put thousands of public domain books online Thursday, Amazon.com responded by announcing plans to allow people to read books on the Web.
“Meanwhile, Random House, the world’s largest publisher of trade books, said it had come up with a business model for allowing people to pay to view its books on the Internet.”
Elinor Mills. Amazon, Random House Throw Book at Google. News.com. Nov. 3, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Random House & Amazon Launch Digitization Project
“As Google put thousands of public domain books online Thursday, Amazon.com responded by announcing plans to allow people to read books on the Web.
“Meanwhile, Random House, the world’s largest publisher of trade books, said it had come up with a business model for allowing people to pay to view its books on the Internet.”
Elinor Mills. Amazon, Random House Throw Book at Google. News.com. Nov. 3, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
New York Wins Telecommuter Tax Case
“Telecommuters employed by a company outside their home state may be at risk of having to pay extra taxes unless Congress adopts a bill protecting them, experts said Tuesday.
“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the appeal of a Tennessee computer programmer who claimed that New York was violating his constitutional rights by forcing him to pay taxes on income he earned in his home state while telecommuting.”
Elinor Mills. Telecommuters: Beware the Tax Man. News.com. Nov. 2, 2005.
See also:
New York State Court of Appeals. Huckaby v. New York State Division of Tax Appeals. (.pdf) March 29, 2005.
Teresa M. McAleavy. N.Y. Telecommuter Tax Upheld. NorthJersey.com. Nov. 1, 2005.
ITAC. Annual Survey Shows Americans Are Working from Many Different Locations Outside Their Employer’s Office. (Press Release) Oct. 4, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
MySpace Finds a Business Model
“At first blush, the Hollywood Undead is your standard-issue metal band.
“Here’s what makes the Hollywood Undead distinctive: It is the first band signed to MySpace Records, part of the social networking Web site where thousands of bands promote their music to millions of teens and twentysomethings.”
Dawn C. Chmielewski. Record Labels Scan Internet for New Stars. The San Jose Mercury News. Nov. 4, 2005.
See also:
Steven Musil. This Week in Online Music. News.com. Nov. 4, 2005.
John Borland. Digital Music’s Move Back to the Web. News.com. Nov. 4, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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