I think it's pretty clear by now that Google's strange bids on the Nortel patents were a diversionary tactic -- they were driving the price up to stick it to Apple and Microsoft. If that was the case, their strategy worked magnificently.
Also, I bet the Motorola Mobility deal was secretly in the works since long before now. Somehow I don't think you can put together a multi-billion deal in a week...
And as for Motorola's hardware division, I doubt Google will try to compete with its partners to any serious degree. When it comes to Google, never forget that they are not making Android to sell an OS but to use that OS to sell ads!
On a relevant note, I heard that MM's patent portfolio may also contain a bunch of video-related patents, but haven't been able to confirm. Any chance this could open a new front on the WebM/MpegLA front as well?
Kusek, along with Dave Smith and the other people responsible for creating MIDI could have made millions with MIDI, but he remains philosophical about this missed opportunity. "Maybe the reason why it took off was that it was absolutely free," he says. "It was a compact way of representing music in a simple and cheap format."
Kusek has learned to appreciate and even extol the benefits of free and open access to music. He helped create musical notation software and was instrumental in developing enhanced CDs for the commercial market. He supports the creation of a music utility to "monetize" the immense wave of file-sharing that has become standard operating procedure in the industry."
Exactly. Respect him or he'll beat you over the head with his walking stick. That's how respect was earned in the good old days, he'll have you know.
Taping a song in his time was like lighting fireworks in Mrs Robinson's mailbox, a mere 4 on the disrespectful youngster/masochistic asshole (DYMA) scale. But downloading a song today is like burning down a church full of kittens and babies, a full 10 on on the DYMA scale.
There is only one way in which this new-found lack of respect can be explained: it is the result of a sudden and extraordinary mutation in the human genome. Based on evidence collected by the Geriatric Association of Landscaping (GAL), this mutation is exhibited by making the new generation instinctively enjoy the lamentations of the women of the previous generation, viz their mothers. This in turn leads their fathers to beat them over the head with their walking sticks. Of course, none of those behaviours can be explained by the fact that we are in the worst economic times ever, since there was no civil unrest during the great depression either -- none whatsoever.
The GAL also uncovered an indisputable link between the burning and pillaging during riots with the burning and pillaging by pirates on the high seas. Since infringers of copyright are also called pirates, it was evident that these behaviours are linked. Even to a non-expert, it should be abundantly clear that the physiological lack of respect shown by a frenzied rioting mutant youth is precisely the same lack of respect shown by a mutant youth pirating media on the Information Superhighway. Needless to say, in the good old times copyright law was always respected, and all disruptive technologies were respectfully ignored so as not to inconvenience anyone.
In fact, the good old days were just hunky-dory, because everyone sat around drinking tea all day. On more adventurous occasions they drank coffee. The mutant youths of today drink too much koolaid, download songs and some of them even set fires to things. The previous generations never did anything even remotely similar, no siree. There's no respect today. No respect at all.
For those reasons, the GAL lobby makes the following recommendations:
1) all mutant youngsters are subjected to surgical sterilisation;
2) koolaid is banned from circulation and replaced with organic green tea;
3) as a result of the mutation, the youngsters should not legally be considered human and should be made the property of their respective ancestors;
4) all lawn carers will cut no more than one third of the leaf length in each mowing;
5) a copyright levy of 42.3% of each mutant's income is collected and handed to a copyright association to compensate for lost sales and burning and pillaging costs; and finally
6) a small explosive device is implanted in the cortex of each mutant youngster, which will explode if they are beaten over the head.
The GAL believes that swift enforcement of these measures will kickstart innovation and will lead to the creation of 12 billion new jobs.
He has no logic. He's just not very fond of young people and he's also not very fond of copyright infringers, therefore both of those things are hooligans and pirates and terrorists.
That's when the Premier Legaue starts, which is why the chavs are out looting: they want bigger tellies. Come the 13th, they'll want to stay at home and watch the games.
Even though I'm being sarcastic, there could be an element of truth to this...
Right, I went and looked some things up, so I'm posting here for everyone's benefit.
First of all, a public performance is defined like this in US law:
To perform or display a work ''publicly'' means -
(1) to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered; or
(2) to transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work to a place specified by clause (1) or to the public, by means of any device or process, whether the members of the public capable of receiving the performance or display receive it in the same place or in separate places and at the same time or at different times.
Given (2), Zediva must sound pretty guilty. But, right before this bit, there's an explicit exception:
''Publication'' is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display, constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.
In contrast to the Redd Horne case ("Unlike a sale or rental, Maxwell's remained in physical control of the videotape at all time", which is why they were found to be doing performances and were not protected by first sale), Zediva stressed repeatedly that it was renting the DVD and player to each user. Their T&C should confirm this -- when the disc is in the drive and spinning, the user is legally in possession of that disc.
"Except that the public performance right doesn't only include making a performance, but authorizing a performance as well. So by furnishing the means, you authorize the infringement. At least, that's how I recall cases like Redd Horne resolving the issue."
Indeed, by like I said, there may not be any infringement by the users in the first place.
About Redd Horne, as far as I can tell the crucial difference is that they were not renting out the tapes and VCRs, they were doing on-demand performances in the back of the shop. That's not the case with Zediva.
But that's not the reason the injunction was granted, it was granted because of this "public performance" inanity.
Besides, there's no way of knowing if Zediva hacked around CSS or actually streamed everything to the end-user, including the encryption. Given the lengths they've gone to to stay within the law, I'd say the latter is very likely.
The thing is, both the DVD and DVD player are rented out to the end-user, who is given full control of the machine. It's the end-user who initiates the playback.
If there's a streaming right involved, it's violated by the end-user renting the equipment and playing back the DVD, not by the company that rented out the equipment.
However, it's perfectly legal to make backups of your DVDs onto a media server and stream them to your TV, just like it's legal to make backups of your CDs on your iPod. So, effectively, the end-users aren't breaking the law either.
Not actually a "negotiating tactic" as much as a way to reduce competition from other labels, who could have found the song and started a bidding war with Universal.
There are some REALLY sophisticated things out there that the bad people are using to stay hidden. Tunnelling through a few commercial VPNs is the bare minimum you can do.
For instance, the other day I was reading about a worm that receives orders through Kad (the public p2p network) and allows the controller to actually tunnel through to any infected computer in the botnet and use it as a proxy. That's virtually impossible to trace.
On the post: Google Spends $12.5 Billion To Buy Motorola Mobility... And Its Patents
Also, I bet the Motorola Mobility deal was secretly in the works since long before now. Somehow I don't think you can put together a multi-billion deal in a week...
And as for Motorola's hardware division, I doubt Google will try to compete with its partners to any serious degree. When it comes to Google, never forget that they are not making Android to sell an OS but to use that OS to sell ads!
On a relevant note, I heard that MM's patent portfolio may also contain a bunch of video-related patents, but haven't been able to confirm. Any chance this could open a new front on the WebM/MpegLA front as well?
On the post: What If Tim Berners-Lee Had Patented The Web?
Re:
http://www.musicpowernetwork.com/Resources/CyclesinMusic/tabid/119/Default.aspx
On the post: British MP Calls On RIM To Shut Down Messenger Services To Stop Riots; Because Pissing Off Rioters Calms Them Down?
Re: Re: Re:
Taping a song in his time was like lighting fireworks in Mrs Robinson's mailbox, a mere 4 on the disrespectful youngster/masochistic asshole (DYMA) scale. But downloading a song today is like burning down a church full of kittens and babies, a full 10 on on the DYMA scale.
There is only one way in which this new-found lack of respect can be explained: it is the result of a sudden and extraordinary mutation in the human genome. Based on evidence collected by the Geriatric Association of Landscaping (GAL), this mutation is exhibited by making the new generation instinctively enjoy the lamentations of the women of the previous generation, viz their mothers. This in turn leads their fathers to beat them over the head with their walking sticks. Of course, none of those behaviours can be explained by the fact that we are in the worst economic times ever, since there was no civil unrest during the great depression either -- none whatsoever.
The GAL also uncovered an indisputable link between the burning and pillaging during riots with the burning and pillaging by pirates on the high seas. Since infringers of copyright are also called pirates, it was evident that these behaviours are linked. Even to a non-expert, it should be abundantly clear that the physiological lack of respect shown by a frenzied rioting mutant youth is precisely the same lack of respect shown by a mutant youth pirating media on the Information Superhighway. Needless to say, in the good old times copyright law was always respected, and all disruptive technologies were respectfully ignored so as not to inconvenience anyone.
In fact, the good old days were just hunky-dory, because everyone sat around drinking tea all day. On more adventurous occasions they drank coffee. The mutant youths of today drink too much koolaid, download songs and some of them even set fires to things. The previous generations never did anything even remotely similar, no siree. There's no respect today. No respect at all.
For those reasons, the GAL lobby makes the following recommendations:
1) all mutant youngsters are subjected to surgical sterilisation;
2) koolaid is banned from circulation and replaced with organic green tea;
3) as a result of the mutation, the youngsters should not legally be considered human and should be made the property of their respective ancestors;
4) all lawn carers will cut no more than one third of the leaf length in each mowing;
5) a copyright levy of 42.3% of each mutant's income is collected and handed to a copyright association to compensate for lost sales and burning and pillaging costs; and finally
6) a small explosive device is implanted in the cortex of each mutant youngster, which will explode if they are beaten over the head.
The GAL believes that swift enforcement of these measures will kickstart innovation and will lead to the creation of 12 billion new jobs.
On the post: British MP Calls On RIM To Shut Down Messenger Services To Stop Riots; Because Pissing Off Rioters Calms Them Down?
Re: Re:
On the post: British MP Calls On RIM To Shut Down Messenger Services To Stop Riots; Because Pissing Off Rioters Calms Them Down?
That's when the Premier Legaue starts, which is why the chavs are out looting: they want bigger tellies. Come the 13th, they'll want to stay at home and watch the games.
Even though I'm being sarcastic, there could be an element of truth to this...
On the post: Rojadirecta Argues That The Justice Department Is Making Up Laws; Has No Legal Basis To Forfeit Its Domain
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Court Shuts Down Zediva: Apparently The Length Of The Cable Determines If Something Is Infringing
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
First of all, a public performance is defined like this in US law:
Given (2), Zediva must sound pretty guilty. But, right before this bit, there's an explicit exception:
In contrast to the Redd Horne case ("Unlike a sale or rental, Maxwell's remained in physical control of the videotape at all time", which is why they were found to be doing performances and were not protected by first sale), Zediva stressed repeatedly that it was renting the DVD and player to each user. Their T&C should confirm this -- when the disc is in the drive and spinning, the user is legally in possession of that disc.
It is not a performance. IMO the judge was wrong.
On the post: Court Shuts Down Zediva: Apparently The Length Of The Cable Determines If Something Is Infringing
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Indeed, by like I said, there may not be any infringement by the users in the first place.
About Redd Horne, as far as I can tell the crucial difference is that they were not renting out the tapes and VCRs, they were doing on-demand performances in the back of the shop. That's not the case with Zediva.
On the post: Court Shuts Down Zediva: Apparently The Length Of The Cable Determines If Something Is Infringing
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Besides, there's no way of knowing if Zediva hacked around CSS or actually streamed everything to the end-user, including the encryption. Given the lengths they've gone to to stay within the law, I'd say the latter is very likely.
On the post: Court Shuts Down Zediva: Apparently The Length Of The Cable Determines If Something Is Infringing
Re: Re: Re:
If there's a streaming right involved, it's violated by the end-user renting the equipment and playing back the DVD, not by the company that rented out the equipment.
However, it's perfectly legal to make backups of your DVDs onto a media server and stream them to your TV, just like it's legal to make backups of your CDs on your iPod. So, effectively, the end-users aren't breaking the law either.
On the post: Judge Waxes Comedic On Whether You Can Trademark Quilted Diamonds On Toilet Paper
Re:
On the post: Jack Kirby Declared A Mere Marvel Workerbee... Heirs Can't Reclaim Copyrights On Hulk Or X-Men
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I'll just posit that Mike is using a sock puppet.
On the post: Idea/Expression Dichotomy Is Dead; Judge Allows Photographer's Lawsuit Against Rihanna To Move Forward
Re: On the up-side
On the post: Getting Past The Myth That Copyright Is Needed To Produce Content
Re: Re: Re: Nothing to do with Copyright
As recently as 20 years ago, if you didn't have the endorsement of a label, there was no way to record and distribute music.
Now, all you need are a good quality microphone (that you could find cheap on Ebay), some free software and an internet connection...
On the post: 54-Year Old School Teacher Who Doesn't Know How To Download Movies First To Be Kicked Off The Internet In France
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Of course, since entertainment is a much larger industry than the internet, we should cut off the internet to cater to the entertainers' wishes.
Oops, hold on... The internet industry dwarfs the entertainment industry by a thousand-fold.
On the post: Lodsys Strikes Again: Sues Rovio For Patent Infringement Over Angry Birds
Re:
On the post: Is Universal Music Using Bogus DMCA Takedowns As A Negotiating Tactic?
Basically, this artist SO got screwed.
On the post: Arresting People Associated With Anonymous Unlikely To Have The Impact The Feds Expect
Re: Re:
For instance, the other day I was reading about a worm that receives orders through Kad (the public p2p network) and allows the controller to actually tunnel through to any infected computer in the botnet and use it as a proxy. That's virtually impossible to trace.
On the post: 41% Of Websites In China Disappeared Over The Last Year
On the post: Photographer David Slater Claims That Because He Thought Monkeys Might Take Pictures, Copyright Is His
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Saying it was an "accident."
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