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Being better than free when copies are ubiquitous

The digital world fundamentally changes what a copy means for copyright. I wrote about this in the past from the legal perspective, suggesting an implied license to reproduce and a greater reliance on other rights. Kevin Kelly has a great post up about the Internet's role as a super-distribution...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 02-22-2008
Scoble, Facebook and Data Ownership

I've sort of ignored the whole Scoble/Facebook fiasco, with people arguing on both sides who "owns" the data. Jimmy Gutterman misses the point a bit , because Facebook has already opened up the social graph through the Facebook Platform API. What they don't expose - and why this script...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 01-09-2008
When will the NFL Network standoff end?

Like so many others , I was furious when I couldn't watch the Packers-Cowboys games a few weeks back. The NFL Network is only carried on satellite which is simply not an option for many of us in urban areas like NYC. For those who haven't been paying attention, there's been a long-running...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 12-27-2007
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...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 05-01-2007
Understanding the Cablevision DVR lawsuit

While I agree with Mark Cuban that the lawsuit is a mistake , I thought it was worth discussing why - from a legal perspective - the network DVR is an issue. Copyright gives the owner a limited monopoly over a few aspects, most notably the ability to reproduce and distribute the work. In a "normal" DVR...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 04-11-2007
Streamburst offers innovative DRM for video

I've already discussed the German music store using watermarks to discourage piracy , and now it seems another service is applying the same principle to video . Instead of handcuffing viewers who want to view films they purchase on multiple devices and otherwise use content legitimately in ways DRM blocks...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 02-28-2007
Sometimes piracy isn't about getting it for free

The old maxim that "you can't compete with free" has been thrown around time and time again in the piracy argument. Sometimes, though, piracy is not just about price. People don't want DRM ( including Bill Gates ), and there are still no legal means to download DRM-free music. ( Ok, I should clarify...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 01-30-2007
Abandonware and Unlocked Cellphones

This is old news, but in the craziness of the semester I never got around to discussing and I think it's worth mentioning now. The US Copyright Office recently approved six new DMCA exceptions , including exceptions for abandonware and cellphone unlocking . This is a good step, but as Fred mentions the...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 01-02-2007
Licensing the Office 2007 UI - what is Microsoft's IP strategy?

Jensen Harris announced that the Office 2007 Ribbon UI can be licensed . For the last year or so, one of the questions I've been asked again and again has been: "Can I use the new Office user interface in my own product?" I have to be honest - I'm a bit baffled at this whole thing. Note, they are not...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 11-27-2006
Would you trust Zamzar with your data?

Kevin writes about Zamzar , a free web-based service that converts audio, video and documents from one format to another (via Download Squad ). Sounds cool, but would you trust them with your sensitive data? I don't know about you, but I barely trust Google or Microsoft with this information. Should...

Posted to Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled (Weblog) by Tim on 11-03-2006

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