Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Copyright and Grouper

Neil Berkman, who worked with me at Echo sent me this link to an LA Times story today about Grouper and pushing the boundaries of intellectual property law. Neil said it reminded him of what I was writing about in The Copyright Fairy pieces.

There is no question in my mind that there are opportunities to make money for those who can solve the technological and intellectual property issues around media. As I have said before I think the best way to facilitate that is to work with people who openly embrace the interaction between consumers, technology and media. Any other hair splitting approaches such as limiting to a certain number of people, or streaming not downloading, seems destined for litigation. Litigation as a component of a startup's business plan is generally not advised. Rare cases like Lindows aside, I think that staying clear of the controversy is the best path.

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