Sometimes, the best ideas are free (The Times)

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.