Intellectual Property

Posts Tagged ‘intellectual property’

The crowd wants information to be free

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Let me begin with a picture of Kenneth Himma, Ph.D, J.D., and philosophy professor at Seattle Pacific University.

bacon

Alright, all kidding aside, this is actually actor Kevin Bacon in the 1978 film Animal House. And, if you are familiar with the scene being depicted, I should note that I am not asserting that Himma is a flustered ROTC student trying in vain to maintain order during a riot on the city streets after a fraternity prank causes mass chaos, uselessly shouting to the crowd “All is well!”. No, instead I should explain that this image is something that came to my mind when I realized that arguments Himma puts forth in a 2005 accepted and forthcoming APA Newsletters on Philosophy and Computers essay against the popular notion “information should be free” (ISBF) are likely to forever fall on deaf ears. (more…)

Tags: Benkler, copyright, Himma, information commons, infringement, intellectual property, IP, Wealth of Networks
Posted in discussions, net economics | View Comments

Stealing the already stolen: When copyright infringers clash!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Final Project Proposal for my Law Class in the MCDM

Topic: Stealing the stolen

Seemingly innumerable amounts of copyrighted materials are published and shared by millions on-line today. Much of these cultural artifacts are distributed by copyright owners through approved channels. However, a great deal of this IP is being distributed illegally, be it through file-sharing, torrents, mashups, remixes, piracy, or other means. Just as ‘return on investment’ is difficult to measure when copyright owners license or otherwise publish their content on-line, it is not unreasonable to assume that the lasting impact of user appropriation or piracy of material published is equally difficult to measure. Nevertheless, measuring this potential impact is critical to copyright owners; the subject itself is rife with problems, and finding solutions to this new world of stealing and appropriating IP is of major importance. The cultural production sector, as Benkler would call it in his seminal work, The Wealth of Networks, is a sector built on social production (2006). IP finds its way on-line, and thereafter is commoditized and commodified by the masses for their own social production. Once IP reaches the web, it is no longer controllable – it is stolen and re-stolen time and time again. This arena of lawlessness is where I wish to center my research.

(more…)

Tags: intellectual property, internet law, mashups, piracy, remixes
Posted in copyright | View Comments