Right, these are two separate but related questions. Nothing about our world today changes the legal rights of a copyright holder. However, the reality of the world changes the perceived value of inellectual property for consumers, and the pressure brought to bear by this change in perceived value has already started to change the way some creators are dealing with copyright issues.
>From a practical standpoint, then, I am suggesting that the ease of copying >and distributing certain items (e.g. software) has already affected copyright >in certain industries. In other industries- music and film, for example- the >pressure has not changed the approach to copyright, but it has changed the >business model for profiting from the copyright. The different approaches are based on the realities of the market. For instance, a company like Red Hat can sell an open source product and be successful because the base product is not where they deliver added value. Their value model is based on subscription-basd support for the product- ongoing patches, upgrades, Web and phone technical support services, and so on. You buy a discrete product and you get access to support for that product for a period of time. The music/film industries' new model, the Napster/Netflix/Blockbuster model, is also a subscription-basd model, but that is where the similarity to the software model ends. Their value model is in providing the largest possible base of content to choose from. As to what should happen, I don't know but I generally have confidence in our legal system to hash out those kinds of questions over time. >Copyright and value are different things. All of your examples are >questions of perceived value not their inherent copyright. Are you >suggesting that an item's copyright be determined by its value? > >What "realities of an all-digital, connected world" change the legal >right of a creator to determine how they want their creation to be >reproduced? > >-Kevin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes by Ben Forta http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=40 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:146494 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
