Showing archive for: “Copyright”
Copyright Trolls
A new business model for newspapers? From Wired (HT: Kevin Ohlhausen): Steve Gibson has a plan to save the media world’s financial crisis — and it’s not the iPad. Borrowing a page from patent trolls, the CEO of fledgling Las Vegas-based Righthaven has begun buying out the copyrights to newspaper content for the sole purpose ... Copyright Trolls
Stan Liebowitz Applies the Laugh Test to the O/S File-Sharing Paper
Stan Liebowitz (UT-Dallas) has posted his latest on the file sharing debate, “The Oberholzer-Gee/Strumpf File-Sharing Instrument Fails the Laugh Test.” (HT: Craig Newmark). Having covered the file-sharing debate on this blog, including Professor Strumpf’s remarkably unprofessional and uncharitable treatment of Professor Liebowitz, I greatly admire Stan’s ability to stay above the fray and stick to ... Stan Liebowitz Applies the Laugh Test to the O/S File-Sharing Paper
IP Colloquium: The First Sale Doctrine
For TOTM readers who might not know already, Professor Doug Lichtman (UCLA) has put together a great series of programs over at IP Colloquium. The IP Colloquium is an online audio program focused on patent and copyright issues where Professor Lichtman interviews guests from academia, business, and the judiciary to discuss current topics (archives available ... IP Colloquium: The First Sale Doctrine
Art and Politics
When I first met my father in law, he spent hours trying to convince me of the cultural superiority of his tastes. Some of these were indeed triumphs. I’m thinking here of “Dr. Strangelove,” “The 400 Blows,” and the music of Richard Wagner. (Others were not. I’m thinking here of “Children of Paradise,” a movie ... Art and Politics
Of Broken Windows and Broken Policy
Today the Obama administration announced with great pride that its economic stimulus plan created or saved about 650,000 jobs. “Thank goodness!” reads the subtext. If not for all those new and protected jobs, the unemployment numbers would be really bad! It appears no one in the administration’s economic advisory team has heard of Frédéric Bastiat. ... Of Broken Windows and Broken Policy
Is Apple Dumb?
The Economist seems to think so, relying on evidence from this new paper by Joel Waldfogel and Ben Shiller. Waldfogel and Shiller find that, relative to uniform pricing at $.99, alternative pricing schemes including two part tariffs and various bundling schemes could raise producer surplus by somewhere between 17 and 30 percent. Those are large ... Is Apple Dumb?
Tragedies of the Gridlock Economy at George Mason University Information Economy Project
My colleague Tom Hazlett and his Information Economy Project at GMU is putting on a wonderful conference this week. The public event is a debate between Michael Heller and Richard Epstein on the Gridlock Economy. Following that event is an academic conference including: Harold Demsetz, Michael Meurer, F. Scott Kieff, Adam Mossoff, Kevin Werbach, Thomas ... Tragedies of the Gridlock Economy at George Mason University Information Economy Project
"We're Kinda Worried About the Monopoly Thing"
That’s from Firefox chief software architect Mike Connor in an interview with PCPro. Here’s an excerpt suggesting that Mozilla fears that its recent success might lead to antitrust liability in the United States or elsewhere: Firefox has only just tipped past the 20% mark in worldwide browser market share, and is still a long way ... "We're Kinda Worried About the Monopoly Thing"
Randy Picker on the Google Book Settlement
Randy Picker has posted The Google Book Settlement: A New Orphan Works Monopoly? to SSRN. I have not been following the antitrust issues related to the settlement as closely as I should be and so I’m really looking forward to reading this. Here is the abstract: This paper considers the proposed settlement agreement between Google ... Randy Picker on the Google Book Settlement
TOTM Symposium Wrap Up
I’d like to formally thank Mike Carrier, Geoff Manne, Phil Weiser, Dan Crane, Brett Frischmann, Scott Kieff and Dennis Crouch for participating in the first TOTM symposium on Mike’s book: Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law. Thanks also to Dennis for cross-posting at PatentlyO. Each of the ... TOTM Symposium Wrap Up
Professor Carrier’s Response
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Josh Wright. Only because of Josh’s creativity and tireless, flawless execution did this blog symposium come about and run so smoothly. I also would like to thank Dennis Crouch, who has generously cross-posted the symposium at PatentlyO. And I am grateful for the ... Professor Carrier’s Response
Kieff on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
I, too, join the rest of the participants in congratulating Michael Carrier on this great book about this great topic. I have enjoyed reading Michael’s work in the past and I enjoyed meeting him at a conference last year. He is a wonderfully warm, bright, and engaging person. Although I wish that I had more ... Kieff on Carrier’s Innovation in the 21st Century
