Everyone by now must be familiar with the theory by Wired’s Chris Anderson that in the Internet age, there is more money to be made on the vast majority of creative works that are niche items than in the few that are very popular. He has depicted this through what is called a Pareto curve, [...]

We’ve all heard that print newspapers are dead, that people like me who like to spread a newspaper across a breakfast table are dinosaurs. News at your fingertips on the web is where it’s at, we hear, and circulation and web traffic data would seem to support that. To respond, newspapers have proven aggressive in [...]

I always love talking about free markets, and miss daily hallway conversations on that subject from my think tank days. So I was delighted to come across a new publication (PDF) by the Washington Legal Foundation in which the Honorable Dick Thornburgh, now with K & L Gates, discusses the state of intellectual property in [...]

I’ve heard some peculiar arguments against intellectual property over the years, and two of them have been at events sponsored by the Cato Institute. The first was two or three years ago, when Cato hosted a conference featuring then-UCLA Economics Professor David Levine. In his dissection of copyright, he defended the notion of pirated motion [...]

In The Graduate, the father of Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) — after learning his son is driving to Berkeley to propose to Elaine Robinson, daughter of a woman Benjamin was having an affair with — says “Don’t you think that idea is a little half-baked?” Benjamin replies, “Oh no, Dad, it’s completely baked.”
The idea I’m [...]

SANTA MONICA, CA — Every time I come to this show, I hear more technologists eager to make deals with copyright owners, legal deals rewarding both parties. Yes, one big obstacle remains — to date, returns from online distribution of creative works haven’t approached that of traditional models. But improvements are being made in that [...]

The intellectual property rights enforcement bill, S. 3325, passed the US Senate Friday and the US House on Sunday. This legislation, once signed by the President, will give new tools to federal, state and local officials to enforce existing copyright laws and thus defend the rights of creators and copyright owners.
After moving to the House, [...]

For several years I’ve emphasized the rapid deployment of new, legal business models for copyrighted creative works. I’ve written research papers on this. I’ve written blogs on this. I’ve spoken at conferences such as CES and Digital Hollywood on this. And I’ve always noted the unifying theme among all of these models — licensing.
The latest [...]

Today’s guest blog is written by David Israelite, President and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation Wednesday arrested a man in Los Angeles for posting nine unreleased Guns N’ Roses songs on his web site earlier this year.
I applaud Director Robert Mueller and the FBI for recognizing the seriousness [...]

Did you know that thanks to the digital age, we can all share in a great collective, enjoying each other’s creative works without concern as to whether they’re produced because the motive is one of receiving praise from the collective? (See Benkler 2006 and numerous other works by kibbutz-minded professors.) When a commercial creative work [...]