Lawyers do get paid twice. Not the same lawyers though. Both the plaintiff and defense have to pay their lawyers.
While this was a difficult case to sort through, I just don't understand why it should cost over $300 million in legal fees for a final decision in the case.
When I was in elementary school (10 yrs old), I stole (yes stole) a dictionary.
Years later when I graduated from High School, I went back to my elementary school to apologize to the school librarian. When I told him that I and another student had stolen dictionaries (yeah I ratted out my bro), the librarian told me that he knew we had stolen the dictionaries. I was puzzled as to why he didn't say anything, so I asked why. He said that we were stealing dictionaries and there was only one reason a child would do that, to use it. He said it was hard enough to get children to use the dictionaries while in the school, so there was no way he was going to stop children from using them at home.
Teaching job well done.
The point of the story is that publishers' goals go against the goals of the teachers. The whole point of education is to share as much knowledge as possible. Publishers seem to be pushing for a complete shift to free online lessons like at khan academy.
If copyright is the SAME as a property right, then why should digital sales be any different than physical sales?
Given that infringement is often called theft and that copyright is "definitely" property, there should be no argument about the first sale doctrine among the trolls.
After reading through all the troll responses, all I can say is, Huh???
Regardless of whether you believe there is a cyber war brewing, you just have to ask yourself why Congress needs to legislate anything regarding cyber war.
Congress already has the ability to declare war on any nation if they choose to do so. It doesn't matter what weapons the US chooses to use in that war. The US Congress cannot make laws for other countries. The best they can do is enter into treaties.
It just appears as if politicians are looking for a new super word to replace Terrorism, so they are trying CyberWar to see if it can gain enough traction to pass any legislation.
If you are sitting at home in the US and worrying about China, Russia, and Iran, you don't have a super strong spine, you have a super weak mind.
Maybe the US should switch from the War on Terror, to the War on Poverty. It won't change the incidence of crazy people gun violence, but it just might have an impact on all violence in general.
Want to learn how to use a slide rule? Search "how to use a slide rule". I'm guessing that is a bit easier than waiting for a tutorial on a wind up radio.
I really don't understand why anyone would think that patents are a driver of innovation/invention. When I was in school, I was taught that necessity is the mother of invention, and as far as I can tell it still is.
People create things to satisfy a need. If you take financial compensation out of the equation, people will still have the need and still try to satisfy it.
Patents are however, a very good measure of greed.
Personally, I think that cable companies lost sight of how they even came to dominance and that is their weakness.
When I first subscribed for cable, it wasn't to get 400+ channels, but rather for the movie channels. Paying a premium to watch movies at home was worth it. After a decade or so, cable just seemed the way to consume TV programming and I re-upped without thinking about it.
That is how we humans work. We do a lot of things out of habit and without really thinking about it.
While the entertainment industry sorts out it's "new" business models, there is a generation growing up that just doesn't care about the industry's evolution. In other words, that generation is habitually turning to "pirate channels" for access to entertainment. They hop on the net and don't even think to look to the "official" source of the content. I can think of the first few times I went to abc.com, hbo.com, disney.com, etc, looking for content and it wasn't there. After finding what I was looking for elsewhere, I was "trained" not to even bother looking at those sites again.
Why don't "pirates" feel any remorse? Because they are paying for the broadband that brings them the access. It's not that people don't want to pay, it's that they feel they have paid already. Companies and the convolution of copyrights and licenses seem to think that selling the same content over and over to the same consumer is a smart play, but the consumer quickly gets tired of paying several times for the same thing.
Broadcast TV and Google already have the "new" business model. It's called advertising and it's worth billions of dollars; and it's much more consumer friendly than labelling your customers as pirates and thieves.
If you are detained under the secret interpretation of this law, you can be assured that you won't be pleading anything. You'll be considered a terrorist and disappeared.
Have we totally forgotten that Robert Novak outed a deep cover CIA operative??? Valerie Plame.
At the time it went to press, President Bush said that whoever leaked her identity would be tried for treason.
When it came to light that it was most likely Dick Cheney, they found a scapegoat in Lewis "Scooter" Libby. And the best part is that Libby is only found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice, no mention of outing a CIA operative or treason.
To cap it all off, President Bush commutes his 2 year sentence.
On the post: It's Finally Over: 8 Years Of Mattel vs. Bratz And No One's Getting Paid But The Lawyers
Re: Lawyers don't get the money
While this was a difficult case to sort through, I just don't understand why it should cost over $300 million in legal fees for a final decision in the case.
On the post: Alan Cooper Sues John Steele, Prenda Law And The Shell Companies He Supposedly 'Runs'
Re: DB Coopers Son
Oops sorry, movies never make a net profit. Write a book instead.
On the post: OXO Shows The Right Way To Respond To Bogus 'Outrage' Over 'Copied' Product
Re: How to take it out of the public domain
Patent granted!!!
On the post: School District Dumps $2 Million 'Online Textbook' Program After Discovering Some Students Can't Afford Broadband
Re: IP must be protected - Lessons learned
Years later when I graduated from High School, I went back to my elementary school to apologize to the school librarian. When I told him that I and another student had stolen dictionaries (yeah I ratted out my bro), the librarian told me that he knew we had stolen the dictionaries. I was puzzled as to why he didn't say anything, so I asked why. He said that we were stealing dictionaries and there was only one reason a child would do that, to use it. He said it was hard enough to get children to use the dictionaries while in the school, so there was no way he was going to stop children from using them at home.
Teaching job well done.
The point of the story is that publishers' goals go against the goals of the teachers. The whole point of education is to share as much knowledge as possible. Publishers seem to be pushing for a complete shift to free online lessons like at khan academy.
On the post: Secondhand MP3 Dealer Redigi Expanding Into Europe... And Tangling With A Whole New Set Of IP Laws
But..but..but.. it's the same
Given that infringement is often called theft and that copyright is "definitely" property, there should be no argument about the first sale doctrine among the trolls.
On the post: TechCrunch Admits That Using Facebook Comments Drove Away Most Of Their Commenters
Re: Re:
On the post: Cyber War: A One-Sided Battle Against A Trumped Up Enemy
Re: Huh ???
Regardless of whether you believe there is a cyber war brewing, you just have to ask yourself why Congress needs to legislate anything regarding cyber war.
Congress already has the ability to declare war on any nation if they choose to do so. It doesn't matter what weapons the US chooses to use in that war. The US Congress cannot make laws for other countries. The best they can do is enter into treaties.
It just appears as if politicians are looking for a new super word to replace Terrorism, so they are trying CyberWar to see if it can gain enough traction to pass any legislation.
If you are sitting at home in the US and worrying about China, Russia, and Iran, you don't have a super strong spine, you have a super weak mind.
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
Re: Newsflash
Maybe the US should switch from the War on Terror, to the War on Poverty. It won't change the incidence of crazy people gun violence, but it just might have an impact on all violence in general.
On the post: Inventor Of The Wind-Up Radio Complains About 'Google Generation'
Re:
See how that works?
Want to learn how to use a slide rule? Search "how to use a slide rule". I'm guessing that is a bit easier than waiting for a tutorial on a wind up radio.
On the post: Is The US IP System Really 'The Envy Of The World'?
Re: Re:
Without youtube we those SHRs would be lost.
On the post: Is The US IP System Really 'The Envy Of The World'?
People create things to satisfy a need. If you take financial compensation out of the equation, people will still have the need and still try to satisfy it.
Patents are however, a very good measure of greed.
On the post: Dear HBO, Disney, Netflix Et Al: Fragmenting Online TV Lets Piracy Keep Its Biggest Advantage
When I first subscribed for cable, it wasn't to get 400+ channels, but rather for the movie channels. Paying a premium to watch movies at home was worth it. After a decade or so, cable just seemed the way to consume TV programming and I re-upped without thinking about it.
That is how we humans work. We do a lot of things out of habit and without really thinking about it.
While the entertainment industry sorts out it's "new" business models, there is a generation growing up that just doesn't care about the industry's evolution. In other words, that generation is habitually turning to "pirate channels" for access to entertainment. They hop on the net and don't even think to look to the "official" source of the content. I can think of the first few times I went to abc.com, hbo.com, disney.com, etc, looking for content and it wasn't there. After finding what I was looking for elsewhere, I was "trained" not to even bother looking at those sites again.
Why don't "pirates" feel any remorse? Because they are paying for the broadband that brings them the access. It's not that people don't want to pay, it's that they feel they have paid already. Companies and the convolution of copyrights and licenses seem to think that selling the same content over and over to the same consumer is a smart play, but the consumer quickly gets tired of paying several times for the same thing.
Broadcast TV and Google already have the "new" business model. It's called advertising and it's worth billions of dollars; and it's much more consumer friendly than labelling your customers as pirates and thieves.
On the post: Hollywood Accounting Strikes Again: Investors In 29 Paramount Films That Earned $7 Billion Dollars Get No Return
Re: Re: Ummmmm
On the post: Hollywood Accounting Strikes Again: Investors In 29 Paramount Films That Earned $7 Billion Dollars Get No Return
Ummmmm
But... but .. but... if you donate to Kickstarter projects, you might not see a return on your investment.
So how is Paramount any different than Kickstarter?
Other than the fact that a film maker on Kickstarter may not know all the crafty accounting practices of Hollywood.
On the post: The Case Against Aaron Swartz Was Complete Garbage
Re:
The War on Terrorism takes an expected turn on itself.
On the post: EFF Gets Secret Interpretation Of FISA Spying Law... And It's Almost Entirely Redacted
Re: Ignorance of the law is no excuse
On the post: Time Warner's 'Conversation' Website Ditches All Comments; The Conversation Is Just Them To You
On the post: There Is No End In Sight For The Self-Perpetuating 'War On Terror'
Change the name
I'm thinking we should call it the Pentagon's Wet Dream.
On the post: The Flipside: Embracing Closed Gardens Like The Apple App Store Shows Just How Un-Free You Want To Be
Re:
On the post: Why Bob Woodward And His White House Sources Should Be On Trial Before Bradley Manning
Bob Woodward? Seriously?
At the time it went to press, President Bush said that whoever leaked her identity would be tried for treason.
When it came to light that it was most likely Dick Cheney, they found a scapegoat in Lewis "Scooter" Libby. And the best part is that Libby is only found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice, no mention of outing a CIA operative or treason.
To cap it all off, President Bush commutes his 2 year sentence.
The sheeple will tolerate almost anything.
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