Against Monopoly

defending the right to innovate

Monopoly corrupts. Absolute monopoly corrupts absolutely.

Free goods

Economic Logic has had this week a series of posts on free goods, including some of my favorites. I frequently listen to Pandora, an incredible internet radio that learns what to play from your preferences, for free. Also, I do all my work with open source software (perl could have been added) and open source operating systems, the only exception being Matlab. Finally, Economic Logic mentions RePEc, that I use all the time as well...

The provision of goods for free tends to lead to monopolies, but as they cannot extract any rent, for once it is not bad.

[Posted at 03/22/2008 07:52 AM by Christian Zimmermann on Against Monopoly comments(0)]

Free Beer

Well, not exactly free beer, but Free Beer is an open source beer: you can use its recipe at will and even sell the beer you brew commercially, no questions asked.

Hat tip: Economic Logic.

[Posted at 03/07/2008 05:12 PM by Christian Zimmermann on Intellectual Property comments(0)]

Penguin, others are phasing out DRM

DigitalKoans reports that Penguin is dropping DRM. It also links to a New York Times article that shows this is a general trend. Good news.

[Posted at 03/04/2008 04:33 PM by Christian Zimmermann on DRM comments(0)]

Trademark Pwnage

Trademork.com is an excellent source of silly trademarks, as shown by this recent example: A Finnish computer game company is applying for a trademark for the term "pwnage," a recently coined word signifying that someone has been had. The company cannot lay any claims that it created the word, and the word is now commonly used in the gaming and online communities.

I want to trademark "trademark"...

[Posted at 03/03/2008 03:57 PM by Christian Zimmermann on IP as a Joke comments(1)]

When copyright forces copying against your will

Back when libraries only had printed material, they could lend books under the first sale doctrine: once they had purchased a legally copyrighted work, they could sell or dispose of it as the see fit. Things have changed a bit with the advent of online content. To prevent libraries from giving away PDFs, publishers are now licensing on-line content, which is different from selling: use is limited to library premises, usually extended to a campus.

This raises issues with inter-library loans (ILL). No problems with hard copies, which are lent physically and returned. With online content, licenses do not allow to simply forward a PDF file. As Elsevier makes explicit in its policy, the requested item needs to be printed, then scanned before being send through Ariel (an electronic ILL network most libraries use). Thus, copyright rules lead to more paper being wasted because content is online. Great for efficiency and the environment.

Hat tips: Peter Suber and DigitalKoans.

[Posted at 03/02/2008 07:59 PM by Christian Zimmermann on Fair Use comments(0)]

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