There is a larger issue in question- how does copyright law adapt to the realities of an all-digital, connected world? That raises a deeper question that the world must deal with over the coming decades. What is the inherent value of intellectual property?
I am sitting here watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a very entertaining movie based on a very entertaining book. In exchange for her years of work on the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling is a billionaire and the second richest woman in England next to the Queen. Now, I like Harry Potter, but it isn't Shakespeare. And yet Shakespeare, maybe the greatest writer in the history of the english language, needed patronage from the nobility for his limited commercial success. What about musicians? Recordings made it possible for MC Hammer to earn $300 million, but Mozart barely earned a living and died penniless. And Mozart was a composer and conductor, not just a musician. And actors. Let's not forget about actors. Tom Cruise makes $25 million per movie, but Shakespeare and his contemporaries in English theater made a modest living from acting alone. They were each paid ten pounds per performance at the Royal Court- a handsome sum at the time, but hardly the kind of money that would make a man wealthy. Ironically, it is our own industry that has gained the most from copyright and has fallen the quickest. Software. Ah, software. How does a geeky dropout from Harvard become the world's richest man? Licensing! All thanks to copyright law. And yet in the space of barely two decades, as an industry we are in the process of re-thinking the value of our own intellectual property. To some people, the Open Source movement is a noble battle against the forces of corporate tyranny. To me, the Open Source movement is simply the reaction of an industry where many people have come to grips with the reality of the digital age- that the ease of distribution of the Internet has radically altered the value equation for intellectual property of all sorts. We are ahead of the curve, but it makes sense that we are ahead because we are so close to the technology. Did you see the new Napster deal? Get your Napster player and download all the music you want for $15/month. It represents an entirely new business model for the music industry, one where value is determined by time of possession rather than licensing of discrete content. It is the first real sign that the music industry has finally come to grips with the simple fact that their business model no longer offers the perceived value it once did. Where do we go from here? I have no idea, but the whole subject fascinates me. I am going to re-post this on my blog and expand on the subject. Thanks for bringing up the subject, Mike! BTW, I suspect your writer friends are laughing in part because they realize the futility of trying to do anything about it. Rob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Dinowitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Community" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 9:50 PM Subject: who cares > I sent an email reciently to a list of writers I'm on about the massive copywrite infringment going on with scanned comics. I have a full T of comics already and there's still more coming down. Comics come out Wensday and I have 60%-80% of them by Wensday night. (I'm doing this as a favor to a friend who wants to track all this as its happening). > The response from some of the writers? Who cares. Comics make no money, comics are just vehicles for 'real' things like movies, TV shows and merchandicing. Who cares if you can download every superman comic that was ever printed. You can't even say for sure that the comic industry is losing money because of this. > These arguments drive me crazy. Here are professional writers and editors just scoffing at massive scanning operations as if it means nothing. It would normally make me want to scream, but I've got a list of things to do and screaming isn't on it. :( > Yes, this was just a rant. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Protect your mail server with built in anti-virus protection. It's not only good for you, it's good for everybody. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=39 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:146416 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
