Big Publishing Uses DRM Like Big Entertainment
“As technology affects publishers of all kinds, it is interesting to see how the publishers adapt to the changing environment. The primary challenge lies with the ease of making digital copies of works and the implications that has for the application of copyright law. Laws like the Digital Millienium Copyright Act in the US, which enforce technical restrictions on making copies, are well-known and are primarily associated with the music and film industries. However, due to the market failure of e-books, technological change has not been as quick to affect the print medium.
“Nonetheless, print publishers still sell some e-books and it is increasingly common to see electronic editions of books published on CDs, DVDs or online. So it is relevant to explore what print publishers think of copyright in the digital age. Not surprisingly, the commercial print publishers hold a very similar philosophy to their counterparts in the video and audio sectors.”
Roy Bixler. Digital Copyright Issues in Academic Publishing. Groklaw. Feb. 5, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
DRM as CRAP
If you’ve been following any of the news regarding the now draft version 3 of the GNU General Public License, then you also know by now that the Free Software Foundation and its leader Richard Stallman are looking to prevent the mashing up of GPL’d software with digital rights management (DRM) technology.
Even though it’s a scourge that lives at the intersection of technology and entertainment — one that could severely limit our freedom to listen to or watch the content we pay our hard earned money for using the device of our choice — most people are simply turning a blind eye every time DRM gets mentioned. It’s not a very sexy acronym. There’s no shock and awe. The DRM cartel likes it that way. They don’t want any groundswell of opposition to interfere with their plans to control your horizontal and the vertical. No, this is not Outer Limits science fiction. This is the real deal.
To wake people up, I’ve come up with a new acronym for DRM: CRAP.
Between the Lines. FSF’s Stallman Pitches New Definition for C.R.A.P. Feb. 14, 2006.
See also:
Groklaw. Reactions to the GPLv3 Draft and a GLPv2-v3 Comparative Chart. Jan. 17, 2006.
Updates:
Peter Galli. Questions Still Abound Over GPL 3. eWeek. Feb. 15, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Big Music Doublespeaks on Downloading CDs to iPod
“It is no secret that the entertainment oligopolists are not happy about space-shifting and format-shifting. But surely ripping your own CDs to your own iPod passes muster, right? In fact, didn’t they admit as much in front of the Supreme Court during the MGM v. Grokster argument last year?
“Apparently not.”
EFF Deep Links. RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use. Feb. 15, 2006.
See also:
U.S. Copyright Office. Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies — Joint Reply of Association of American Publishers, et al. (.pdf, 550 KB) Feb. 2, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Publishers Should Praise Google Book Search
“Google’s new Book Search promises to save writers’ and publishers’ asses by putting their books into the index of works that are visible to searchers who get all their information from the Internet. In response, publishers and writers are suing Google, claiming that this ass-saving is in fact a copyright violation.
“When you look a little closer, though, you see that the writer/publisher objections to Google amount to nothing more than rent-seeking: an attempt to use legal threats to milk Google for some of the money it will make by providing this vital service to us ink-stained scribblers.”
Boing Boing. Why Publishing Should Send Fruit-Baskets to Google. Feb. 14, 2006.
Updates:
Xeni Jardin. You Authors Are Saps to Resist Googling. LATimes.com. Feb. 23, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Strong Critique of Google Video DRM
“With the introduction of its new copy-restriction video service, Google has diverged from its corporate ethos. For the first time in the company’s history, it has released a product that is designed to fill the needs of someone other than Google’s users.
“The question is, why has Google done this? There’s no Google customer who woke up this morning looking for a way to do less with her video. … That’s not to say that there’s nothing problematic about getting your video through Google this way. But the problems of the inability of the entertainment industry to adapt to the Internet are the entertainment industry’s problems, not Google’s. Google’s really good at adapting to the Internet — that’s why it’s capitalized at $100 billion while the whole of Hollywood only turns over $60 billion a year.
“But once Google starts brokering the relationship between Hollywood and their audience, this becomes Google’s problem too, which means that all the absurd, business-punishing avenues pursued by Hollywood are now Google’s business, as well.”
Boing Boing. Google Video DRM: Why is Hollywood More Important Than Users? Feb. 14, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
The Money Men Enter Patent Reform Debate
“Venture capitalists are turning into legal experts — and against each other — as Congress prepares to rewrite patent legislation.
“Patents are the commercial currency for inventors of the “next big thing” — time and resources spent on research and development are worthless without an exclusive right to exploit an invention. The Patent [Reform] Act of 2005, introduced in the House of Representatives in June, is intended to overhaul 50-year-old legislation that has failed to keep up with fast-moving and comprehensive changes in technology, particularly in the life sciences and information technology sectors.
“Everyone agrees that the system needs improving, but the venture capital industry is split on how this should be done.”
Marietta Cauchi. Patent Reform in Congress Drives Wedge in Industry. PostGazette.com. Jan. 27, 2006.
See also:
Government Accounting Office. USPTO Has Made Progress Hiring Examiners, But Challenges to Retention Remain (GAO-05-720). (.pdf) June 2005.
Florence Olsen. Patent Examiners Battle Stress. FCW.com. July 25, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
From Russia, With Love
“A coalition of U.S. trade associations representing copyright-based industries has called on the U.S. government to recognize serious copyright violations in Russia and to designate the country for possible sanctions.
“The IIPA is recommending that Russia be named a Priority Foreign Country, a designation reserved for countries that are judged to have the most onerous and egregious acts, policies, and practices that have the greatest adverse impact on U.S. products and to not be engaged in good faith negotiations or making significant progress in negotiations to address these problems.”
Martyn Williams. IIPA Piracy Petition Criticizes Russia. Computerworld. Feb. 13, 2006.
See also:
International Intellectual Property Alliance. 2006 Special 301 Report on Global Copyright Protection and Enforcement. No date.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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