This all seems very familiar to me. The people who have power have no clue. The people who have clue have no power. And the people with power and no clue don't listen to the people with clue but no power and then blame them when things go wrong.
As an aside, I love this quote (from the article I just linked):
"Through the years, there have been many copyrighted compositions such as 'Happy Birthday to You' that have become part of America's cultural fabric. And the ability of artists — authors, composers, lyricists and other creators — to be compensated for their copyrighted work is a cornerstone of the American economy and culture," Warner Music spokesman Will Tanous said.
So I have to wonder, which one is Warner Music: the author, the composer, the lyricist or other creator? They apparently inherited it from the Hill sisters.
It's a good thing Warner Music is being compensated after 80 years, because we know it will encourage the Hill sisters to create more good works.
"The reason he keeps getting voted up is a ton of people in the TechDirt community like his comments, so you're obviously not talking for any noticeable fraction of the community."
Obviously he's right and everybody else is wrong. Because, you know. He's an anonymous poster, and therefore everybody should instantly recognize and respect his expertise in these things.
Well, damn. I didn't even realize this was a contest. Going for the most annoying jerk award? I'm afraid you're right, you're beating Marcus hands down. He's not even in the running.
Sorry, Marcus. Didn't mean to put you down, but that's just how it is.
You know how the movie was invented? It started with a bet about whether a horse's hooves all leave the ground at the same time during a gallop. (They do.) In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge put a bunch of cameras along a short course with strings to trip the shutters and captured stills of the galloping horse. Later he used the images to create a zoopraxiscope, which inspired further developments. The rest is history.
You know how Bullet Time was done? They put a metric buttload of cameras around a stage in various configurations and tripped them in various ways via computer. When I watched the "Bullet Time" special on the DVD I immediately saw it as Muybridge's original experiment done with modern technology and delusions of grandeur. And so do we come full circle.
Surely nearly everything we do is derivative. What's innovative is not what we start with, but what we do with it.
I wonder if something similar is going on at a video rental store I used to frequent. It's in Davis and it's called 49er Video. They've got at least two different kinds of rentals: new releases are one color, blue or something; once something gets old enough it gets put into a pink box. Pink boxes are 5-day rentals.
You get a discount if you rent 5 or more pink-box movies. It turns out that renting 5 costs almost the same as renting 3, only a few cents' difference. (In fact 5 might be slightly cheaper, I forget, but it's no more than a few cents more.) Not only that but if you walk up to the counter with 3 or 4 pink-box movies to rent they'll actually tell you that it costs less to rent 5 and encourage you to go find more movies. Every time, without fail.
When I thought about it I figured that it was the idea that movies sitting on the shelves weren't making any money, so they might as well be in customers' hands. And giving that kind of discount and active encouragement generated goodwill and happier customers, thus repeat business.
However, the Netflix model might be part of it, too. Here's a customer with 5 movies to watch. Chance are he's not going to watch them all in one sitting. The more he's got to watch, the longer he'll keep them. And the longer he keeps them, the longer it'll be before he comes back to rent that new release.
Could be a combination. But I'll tell you, it's difficult to walk out of there with three movies when you know you can rent five for the same price. Even harder to walk out with four when five is significantly cheaper!
Fortunately I'm not in court, because I'd get slapped with Contempt, but my first question is: who paid off the judge, and how much did it take? (OK, OK, that's two questions. So sue me. Oops! Somebody probably will!)
Agreed. To me the logo is close enough to cause confusion. But the name? Why, because it has the same initials? Nonsense. Electronic Arts would never have noticed Energy Armor if they hadn't screwed up with the logo.
My other question is: did Electronic Arts lead with a lawsuit, or did they try a cease-and-desist letter first?
On the post: GEMA Strikes Again: Demands Licensing Fees For Music It Has No Rights To
Re: So everyone should be able to profit off work of others /without/ right.
On the post: GEMA Strikes Again: Demands Licensing Fees For Music It Has No Rights To
Re:
On the post: ESPN Affiliate Delays Podcasts; Announcer Rips Into His Bosses For Cluelessness
On the post: Insanity: Men At Work Lose Final Appeal For Using Brief Riff Of Classic Folks Song, Which Went Unnoticed For Decades
Re: Men At Work / Kookaburra
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=5413561&page=1
So much for that example.
As an aside, I love this quote (from the article I just linked):
"Through the years, there have been many copyrighted compositions such as 'Happy Birthday to You' that have become part of America's cultural fabric. And the ability of artists — authors, composers, lyricists and other creators — to be compensated for their copyrighted work is a cornerstone of the American economy and culture," Warner Music spokesman Will Tanous said.
So I have to wonder, which one is Warner Music: the author, the composer, the lyricist or other creator? They apparently inherited it from the Hill sisters.
It's a good thing Warner Music is being compensated after 80 years, because we know it will encourage the Hill sisters to create more good works.
On the post: Insanity: Men At Work Lose Final Appeal For Using Brief Riff Of Classic Folks Song, Which Went Unnoticed For Decades
Re: There is nothing new in music...
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Obviously he's right and everybody else is wrong. Because, you know. He's an anonymous poster, and therefore everybody should instantly recognize and respect his expertise in these things.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re:
Sorry, Marcus. Didn't mean to put you down, but that's just how it is.
On the post: New Record Label Will Give Out All Its Music For Free; Wants Fans To Subscribe To The Label
Re: Re: Re: Makes me sad
On the post: Everything Is A Remix: The Matrix Edition
You know how Bullet Time was done? They put a metric buttload of cameras around a stage in various configurations and tripped them in various ways via computer. When I watched the "Bullet Time" special on the DVD I immediately saw it as Muybridge's original experiment done with modern technology and delusions of grandeur. And so do we come full circle.
Surely nearly everything we do is derivative. What's innovative is not what we start with, but what we do with it.
On the post: Counterintuitive: How Netflix Letting You Keep Movies Longer Decreases The Number Of DVDs It Needs
You get a discount if you rent 5 or more pink-box movies. It turns out that renting 5 costs almost the same as renting 3, only a few cents' difference. (In fact 5 might be slightly cheaper, I forget, but it's no more than a few cents more.) Not only that but if you walk up to the counter with 3 or 4 pink-box movies to rent they'll actually tell you that it costs less to rent 5 and encourage you to go find more movies. Every time, without fail.
When I thought about it I figured that it was the idea that movies sitting on the shelves weren't making any money, so they might as well be in customers' hands. And giving that kind of discount and active encouragement generated goodwill and happier customers, thus repeat business.
However, the Netflix model might be part of it, too. Here's a customer with 5 movies to watch. Chance are he's not going to watch them all in one sitting. The more he's got to watch, the longer he'll keep them. And the longer he keeps them, the longer it'll be before he comes back to rent that new release.
Could be a combination. But I'll tell you, it's difficult to walk out of there with three movies when you know you can rent five for the same price. Even harder to walk out with four when five is significantly cheaper!
On the post: Court Rejects Liberty Media's Attempt To Say NY Defendant Can Be Sued In California
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Lawrence Golan Speaks About Golan V. Holder And His Fight To Protect The Public Domain
Re: Re: Re:
And yet, people have been beaten to death and robbed of their valuables. It's happened more than once.
Doesn't mean it's the way things should be.
On the post: Lawrence Golan Speaks About Golan V. Holder And His Fight To Protect The Public Domain
Re:
On the post: Lawrence Golan Speaks About Golan V. Holder And His Fight To Protect The Public Domain
Re: WOW! Now I know about marking up / renting sheet music!
On the post: Nintendo Thrilled To Have Game Copy Devices Found Illegal In France
On the post: Microsoft's $844 Million Software Giveaway To Nonprofits: Pure Charity Or Cheap Marketing?
Re: Re: Re: Lock in
On the post: Judge Refuses To Dismiss Twitter From Patent Lawsuit Concerning Patent On Interacting With Famous People Online
On the post: Radio Is Killing Music
Re:
Like that, only for the last century or so.
On the post: EA Sues EA Over The EA Trademark
Re: Change its name?!
My other question is: did Electronic Arts lead with a lawsuit, or did they try a cease-and-desist letter first?
On the post: A Time To Reflect On Innovation
Thank you, and good-bye.
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