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Sometimes, the best ideas are free (The Times)

Monday, 25th February 2008

I have a piece in today's Times about changes in how intellectul property operates in the internet age. Here's an extract:

Every year six million Brits download pirated films, TV programmes and music. One illegal site offers the latest films for £1.50. In legal theory, they are copyright protected and their owners decide when and for how much they can be bought. In illegal practice, they can be downloaded for next to nothing.
A few years ago ISPs could have monitored downloading activities by their users. But such has been the growth in the number of internet users and the capability of their programs, that holding ISPs responsible is almost like holding British Telecom responsible for the content of every phone conversation.

As technology advances, the economic model on which copyright protection is based changes by the day. Traditional forms look increasingly like old models for an old world. Ways of recouping investment and rewarding innovation still have to be found.

Take films. If pirate copies can be downloaded easily, studios have to develop new ways of ensuring a return. Today no Hollywood studio allows legal downloads of the best, most recent films; the pirates have an open goal. A prerequisite is thus to get online properly. And then to be reasonably priced.

But the new world of intellectual property lends itself to counterintuitive thinking. The pirates charge for their downloads. So how about studios simply giving away films, but with some kind of accompanying advertising - the model many websites use?

Last Thursday Microsoft, whose name is synonymous with the existing model of copyright protection, underwent a revolution. It suddenly released more than 30,000 pages of previously rigidly protected software protocols.Microsoft recognised that instead of always fighting to hold on to some of its intellectual property, it can do even better by allowing other developers to adopt and adapt its software.

The new world of intellectual property can seem like a looking-glass world. But sometimes, giving away some of your property can help you to make money.

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THX1138

February 26th, 2008 10:05am

I listen & buy a lot of music, I also download from bit torrent sites which I do feel guilty about especially as a large part of our family income comes from copyright. However I apply the following rules to music downloads- if the artist is dead, obscenely rich or I probably wouldn't have bought it I download otherwise I buy. I agree that copyright holders need to find a new model the existing one plainly isn't working. The current pricing model only encourages pirates, the studios/record co's need to reduce the price drastically they would sell more & maybe break the habit of young people going to bit torrent sites as the default. The pricing must also be universal & transparent It's absurd that a song on itunes in the US is cheaper than the UK. Microsoft have released the code for sound commercial reasons they have seen their market share eroded in operating systems & browsers by massively open source products like Firefox (which is so much better than IE) & Linux which although nerdy works well & is increasingly being used by big corps to run servers. In software development thousands of cooks don't spoil the broth. I know you love your classical music but why don't you try something a bit different, go to Amazon & buy Toumani Diabaté's the The Mandé Variations the Mali genius of the Kora has come up with an album that will never leave your CD player. I could never download this, it would be so wrong.

Joshua

February 27th, 2008 12:36am

"However I apply the following rules to music downloads- if the artist is dead, obscenely rich or I probably wouldn't have bought it I download" -- Do you apply the same logic when shoplifting?

THX1138

February 27th, 2008 9:50am

Joshua- Don't be so sanctimonious have you ever borrowed/loaned a book, CD or a DVD or loaded a CD on to your ipod? If so you broke the law. My mother in law's boyfriend is a copper in South Yorkshire & every Saturday night they curl up on the sofa to watch the latest Hollywood blockbuster he has downloaded from pirate bay I have asked him about this & he really doesn't see it as a crime "who's it hurting". If people like him are lost to copyright holders how are we going to educate teenagers not to steal film & music. Stephen P is right the battle is lost & the law is just plain stupid & the sooner copyright holders realise that it is impossible to hold on to the old models & in the interweb age & stop trying to prosecute their customers the better for them & us.