Copyright the Series: Set your Mental TiVo to Record Recent Headline Worthy Episodes
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If you have grown bored of the copyright debate in this country you might want to begin setting your mental TiVo to record recent headline worthy episodes. Business models for all entertainment products are violently changing, being raised from the dead, and facing trial...all at the same time. If that isn't the best of General Hospital mixed with Lost for a season opener to tickle the legal minded crowd then, frankly, nothing will satisfy you people.
Beginning with violent transformation, there's the recent move by copyleft diva Gwen Stefani. Do you like No Doubt, do you like live musical entertainment for you and the family? Well here's the deal you've been waiting for. If you buy a ticket to their next concert, you will have access to a completely legit, no RIAA fuss digital download of. ..wait for it: the entire No Doubt catalogue. This far surpasses similar moves by Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, who provided free downloads of single albums. But this is an entirely different universe of "free goods." If the industry is now sanctioning this kind of course, then it's a clear sign of the vulnerability/desperation in the air. Or is it a sign of a rationale shift in profit centers with CD’s being loss leaders for increasingly lucrative live tours? Consider that the film industry has long viewed the theatrical release widow of a film as a genuine loss leader for home video and pay TV revenues. Whatever it is it sure is interesting.
Then there is the character coming back from the dead. In this case, it's the RIAA pushing out some last minute lawsuits in the middle of its own great recession belt tightening. That being said, hope and change has given us more of the same as Obama’s DOJ wants to walk the RIAA’s path in its high profile suit against Joel Tenenbaum (who is being defended by Harvard law professor Charles Neeson and his students). That suit has taken a serpentine path of twists and turns with the Judge almost sanctioning Neeson for his “antics”. And Neeson’s newest argument that the statutory damages scheme under the copyright act are unconstitutional is being jointly rebuffed by the RIAA and the DOJ. Who would think that the RIAA and the Obama DOJ would team up? But in this case where there is such a high profile challenge to a foundational aspect of the copyright act, maybe this twist is just another basic plot point that was to be expected.
Finally, there’s the cliffhanger outcome in the PirateBay trial. Yes the swarthy, scurvy lovin’, peg legged lotharios of the digital sea have concluded their media circus trial with salty seamen wisecracks aplenty. For their part, the Piratebay (if you don’t know who they are, you are probably one of the few honest net denizens left—they are one of the most notorious bittorrent sites on the net), have done nothing to spin their authority disdainful image into something more wholesome. Rather, they have put much of their defense on the technical issue of where the allegedly infringing content is stored. On the other had, the prosecutor is calling for real Swedish jail time. And even better, while the verdict is pending, the Piratebay has launched a new VIP, private access only sharing site over VPN. With a total disregard for the possible fate that awaits them, you gotta love the size of the founders’, um…database.
So there you have it folks, twists and turns and as the copyright world turns, the season finale is anyone’s guess. All things copyright are in an epic state of flux, whether there has been a lull or not with all of our minds and wallets focused on stimulus packages and employment forecasts.
Beginning with violent transformation, there's the recent move by copyleft diva Gwen Stefani. Do you like No Doubt, do you like live musical entertainment for you and the family? Well here's the deal you've been waiting for. If you buy a ticket to their next concert, you will have access to a completely legit, no RIAA fuss digital download of. ..wait for it: the entire No Doubt catalogue. This far surpasses similar moves by Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, who provided free downloads of single albums. But this is an entirely different universe of "free goods." If the industry is now sanctioning this kind of course, then it's a clear sign of the vulnerability/desperation in the air. Or is it a sign of a rationale shift in profit centers with CD’s being loss leaders for increasingly lucrative live tours? Consider that the film industry has long viewed the theatrical release widow of a film as a genuine loss leader for home video and pay TV revenues. Whatever it is it sure is interesting.
Then there is the character coming back from the dead. In this case, it's the RIAA pushing out some last minute lawsuits in the middle of its own great recession belt tightening. That being said, hope and change has given us more of the same as Obama’s DOJ wants to walk the RIAA’s path in its high profile suit against Joel Tenenbaum (who is being defended by Harvard law professor Charles Neeson and his students). That suit has taken a serpentine path of twists and turns with the Judge almost sanctioning Neeson for his “antics”. And Neeson’s newest argument that the statutory damages scheme under the copyright act are unconstitutional is being jointly rebuffed by the RIAA and the DOJ. Who would think that the RIAA and the Obama DOJ would team up? But in this case where there is such a high profile challenge to a foundational aspect of the copyright act, maybe this twist is just another basic plot point that was to be expected.
Finally, there’s the cliffhanger outcome in the PirateBay trial. Yes the swarthy, scurvy lovin’, peg legged lotharios of the digital sea have concluded their media circus trial with salty seamen wisecracks aplenty. For their part, the Piratebay (if you don’t know who they are, you are probably one of the few honest net denizens left—they are one of the most notorious bittorrent sites on the net), have done nothing to spin their authority disdainful image into something more wholesome. Rather, they have put much of their defense on the technical issue of where the allegedly infringing content is stored. On the other had, the prosecutor is calling for real Swedish jail time. And even better, while the verdict is pending, the Piratebay has launched a new VIP, private access only sharing site over VPN. With a total disregard for the possible fate that awaits them, you gotta love the size of the founders’, um…database.
So there you have it folks, twists and turns and as the copyright world turns, the season finale is anyone’s guess. All things copyright are in an epic state of flux, whether there has been a lull or not with all of our minds and wallets focused on stimulus packages and employment forecasts.
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