Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Arguing Intelligently about Copyright

  Dare has a great rant on copyright . A key purpose of giving authors and other content creators exclusive rights to their intellectual property is to enable them to be rewarded financially from their works for some time before allowing these creations to become "owned" by society. This is supposed to be an incentive that enables the creation of a professional class of content creators and thus benefits society by increasing the number and quality of copyrighted works as well as creating a market/economy around copyrighted works. Most arguments against copyright laws are directly or indirectly an attempt to challenge the existence or benefits afforded the professional class of content creators. It should be noted that professionals dominate practically all areas of content creation (i.e. professionally created content is most popular or most valuable) even when you consider newer areas of content creation that have shown up in the past decade or so. It's because of posts like this that I... Posted May 01 2007, 10:36 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Copyright

• The Broadcast Flag and TiVO

  The EFF already defeated the Broadcast Flag once, but it's one of those things that Hollywood is not going to let go of. I noticed on Dave's site that DRM support was added to TiVO last year . This DRM allows content owners to specify how and whether TiVO users can record a flagged show: they either can't record, can keep it for seven days, or - as the case with this obscure, 40-year-old movie - can keep for 7 days but only have 24 hours to watch once they start. This is one isolated incident, and we can definitely look elsewhere for our DVR needs. (My DVR provided by Time Warner doesn't have DRM restrictions, nor does a Media Center PC). The danger of the Broadcast flag, though, is that it mandates these restrictions, giving the content providers complete control over how we can consume their content. I am not suggesting that we ignore the rights of the copyright holder, but we also can't ignore the rights of the consumer. Copyright is, of course, not an absolute right and there are necessary... Posted Aug 24 2006, 08:07 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Gadgets, Copyright

• Gartner sends a cease and desist to remove a link

  Scoble passes along that James Governor, an analyst for RedMonk, received a C&D from Gartner for a link . Wow. I obviously haven't seen the letter, but I'm trying to imagine what possible legal recourse they have to linking to a publicly visible URL. Obviously there's no copyright infringement and there are standards you have to adhere to protect something as a trade secret. (Hint: putting something on a publicly visible server is not enough). Oh, and someone should tell Gartner that you can "redact" all the links you want but the Internet is forever . Here's the link - maybe I'll get my first C&D too. This is even worse than C&D'ing someone who is trying to help you . Tags: Gartner , RedMonk , CeaseAndDesist , Stupidity Posted Jul 11 2006, 01:15 PM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Things that bother me, Things that amuse me, Copyright, Business

• Commercial Skipping

  There's been a bit of discussion on two patent applications filed by Philips on what the author of this NYT article refers to as "pay to surf" technology. Part of me hopes that they patented this simply to prevent others from using the invention, but somehow I don't think that's the case. ( Aside: Why the over-the-top rhetoric? I'm not exactly sure that the right to channel-surf during commercials or fast-forward through recorded is an "inalienable right". ) The principles behind copyright are meant to encourage expression, not protect business models. William Patry sums it up nicely in his discussion on the fourth fair use factor : The fourth factor analysis of harm to the market for the copyrighted work was a bunch of hoo-ha in [Sony]. The fourth factor concerns ways in which copying of the work itself damages similar or otherwise relevant markets for the particular type of copying done by defendant. The fourth factor most certainly does not concern harm to advertisers, nor does it reach... Posted May 10 2006, 04:20 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Gadgets, Copyright

• Warner Bros to start selling movies on BitTorrent

  In another step towards legitimacy , Warner Bros announced that it will sell movies and television shows through BitTorrent in the US. ( The service already launched in Europe in March ). No mention of what format is being used, but the article mentions "new digital rights management (DRM) software from BitTorrent" which was a major element in the deal. (BitTorrent is strictly a transmission technology). This follows up on an announcement by seven studios last month who plan on selling movies MovieLink and CinemaNow . Warner Bros.' movies will also be released along with the DVD, but sounds like costs will be more inline with the DVD instead of in the 20-30$ range. Unfortunately, you still can't burn to physical media. I would still prefer to see a service where you could pay that $20 or $30 for the right to watch theater-release movies in the comfort of your own home, but obviously there are some complicated politics and economics involved there. Still, this sounds like a step in the right... Posted May 09 2006, 09:58 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Copyright

• MPAA, P2P and digital downloads

  The MPAA has launched a massive attack on P2P sites, but one of the sites is fighting back . TorrentSpy is a search engine for torrent files - it doesn't host the torrent files or the underlying protected material. In their response, they said that the MPAA might have just as well sued Google . Fred von Lohmann said , "on closer examination it looks more like a wholesale attack against Internet indexing generally." Fred questions whether copyright can (or should) make the distinction between a good index and a bad index. I guess TorrentSpy's main problem is that they haven't struck a deal with the MPAA . In related news, seven major studios will begin selling movies through MovieLink and CinemaNow. The downloads will be released at the same time that the DVD is released and will $20-30. Unfortunately, the studios still don't get it - you have to wait until the DVD is out, pay MORE than the DVD, and not get the physical media? (You can't even burn a copy). This would make a hell of a lot... Posted Apr 09 2006, 04:37 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Gadgets, Copyright

• Surprise: RIAA trying to undermine important exceptions to copyright exclusivity

  After conceeding as much in Grokster arguments, the RIAA is reversing course and claiming that ripping a CD to your iPod is Fair Use. Fred discusses the recent filing made by the RIAA filing over at EFF Deep Links. They are not saying this behavior itself was unlawful in the past, but rather that it was lawful only because they allowed it. "Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization. In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorization, not about fair use." This is an interesting way to frame the issue and seems to me like they're trying to weasel out of any potential estoppel issues. I do agree with Brad in that the RIAA is trying to move towards a pay-per-play system, which is of course is the exact opposite from what consumers... Posted Feb 22 2006, 04:00 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Music, Copyright

• Contrary to popular belief, CDs are not going away yet

  Contrary to popular belief, CDs are not going away yet... at least until we solve underlying problems with digital music. Part of that is a looming digital music shakeout that some are predicting, and part is DRM that doesn't work : Ninety percent of his customers own iPods, according to Cullen, and many call in after first buying the system, wondering where their iTunes songs are. But after the company explains it is Apple’s DRM that prevents the file from playing, users universally respond that they will go back to buying CDs that they can then rip into non-DRMed audio files, Cullen said. I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm going to say it again anyways: the average consumer is willing to pay for content, but they want to feel like they are getting something of value in return. Part of that perceived value is the ability to consume the content in ways that the consumer, and not the content owner, sees fit. At the end of the day, legal interpretations aside, that's how the consumer... Posted Jan 26 2006, 12:06 PM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Music, Copyright

• Let's get three things straight: Copyright, Trademark, and Patent are not the same!

  I can usually forgive the use of copyright, trademark and patent interchangeably in normal conversation (unless they are the arrogant sort and need to be corrected), but I will hold mainstream media to a higher standard. CNN/Money is running a story (from Reuters) about Starbucks winning a "China Copyright Case". According to the story: A Shanghai court has ruled that a Chinese coffee company infringed the copyright of coffee chain Starbucks Corp., state media said Monday, as the country's battles to rein in intellectual property theft. No, the case has nothing to do with their music label - it was a trademark dispute (one that is fairly interesting and has potentially important implications ). Bonus confusion: check out the title of the browser page. Forbes also got it wrong in the headline, but got the trademark dispute right in the body of the story. ( At least MSNBC got it right ). Ok, a quick overview, because we need to get this straight. Copyright protects expression ( e.g., books... Posted Jan 02 2006, 08:52 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Copyright

• Converting from protected music formats to unprotected MP3s

  Neowin points to another piece of software that allows you to "convert" protected AACs and WMAs to unprotected MP3s. Like other programs, they've taken an intersting approach to bypassing DCMA concerns: instead of decrypting the underlying media, they capture the (unprotected) output from the sound card. (In other words, they are technically not bypassing any TPM). With the DCMA issue effectively avoided, it's pretty reasonable to make a fair use argument here. After all, all we're really doing is format-shifting - and as we saw in Grokster oral arguments the music industry considers this fair use. Posted Oct 31 2005, 05:51 PM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Gadgets, Copyright