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Read20: June 2008
Copyright Office Catching Up with Digital
Peter Brantley
June 30, 2008
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Another step in the automation of the copyright office. Via Ars Technica:
550,000 registrations a year pass through the Copyright Office, so it's in both the government's and the taxpayers' interest to make the system efficient enough to process those applications in a timely manner. On Tuesday, the Copyright Office will throw the switch on a system called, creatively, the "electronic Copyright Office," or eCO. The system has been in beta for months, and it allows creators to submit copyright registrations and even some actual works directly through the tubes.
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Will Magazines Go Free?
Peter Brantley
June 30, 2008
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Jennifer Armor, audit manager at Verified Audit Circulation, makes the case for free magazines. From Folio:
Because of the increasing price of paper and postage, Armour said, the cost of acquiring and keeping paid circ is becoming too high compared to the revenue it generates, and therefore, consumer publications will eventually move to a controlled circ model. Only magazines with premium content that can't be found elsewhere will be able charge their readers.
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Content Tracking Tools: Control for Some, Distribution for Others
Peter Brantley
June 26, 2008
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An article in BusinessWeek looks at various uses for content tracking systems, from command-and-control monitoring to partnership opportunities via broad distribution:
Just ask Sarah Chubb, president of CondéNet.com, owner of sites ranging from the Epicurious.com cooking site to fashion site Style.com to WiredDigital, the online arm of Wired magazine. A few years ago, Chub enlisted a team of people to scour the Web for unlicensed content use. Now she has a team that does the opposite -- figuring out how to get CondéNet's recipes, fashion photos, and other content onto up-and-coming blogs and social networking sites. Her team is using Attributor's [content tracking] system not to issue takedown notices but to spot new targets.
"We used to build our sites on the idea that people would come to our home page," Chubb says. "Now, we're consciously trying to put our content in a lot of places. In most of those cases, there's a revenue opportunity for us," she says, adding that she has no interest in using the technology to launch lawsuits. "
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Downward Slide Continues for Newspaper Revenue
Peter Brantley
June 24, 2008
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The news, for newspapers, is monotonically downwards. From the New York Times:
On top of long-term changes in the industry, the weak economy is also hurting ad sales, especially in Florida and California, where the severe contraction of the housing markets has cut deeply into real estate ads. Executives at the Hearst Corporation say that one of their biggest papers, The San Francisco Chronicle, is losing $1 million a week.
Over all, ad revenue fell almost 8 percent last year. This year, it is running about 12 percent below that dismal performance, and company reports issued last week suggested a 14 percent to 15 percent decline in May.
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Ebooks: False Sense of Security for Publishers?
Peter Brantley
June 23, 2008
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Michael Cairns says ebooks as we largely understand them may be a short-term fading generational segment. From PersonaNonData:
Today's publishers for the first time in their history have no confidence that their child's generation will be (or are) interested in their published output. It is not that publishers aren't making an effort; however, I have a disturbing belief that there is an preponderance of focus on forcing existing content into a format and delivery mechanism (e-books and e-readers) that is not ideal only to have that e-book content used by a market -- my and my parents' generation -- that is in long term decline.
In other words, migrating content so that it is available on an e-book may provide a false sense of security for publishers who believe this is enough to 're-launch' their content to the newest generations.
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Mark Cuban: Copyright Law Gives Hulu Advantage Over YouTube
Peter Brantley
June 17, 2008
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Mark Cuban says the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PDF) gives Hulu a distinct advantage over YouTube:
Hulu has one HUGE advantage over YouTube, it has the right to sell advertising in and around every single video on its site. It can package and sell any way that might make its customers happy. YouTube on the other hand, has that right for only the small percentage of the videos on its site that it has a licensing deal with. For probably 99pct or more of the videos on the site, YouTube isn't supposed to know what they even are.
How can that be? Because YouTube hides behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Hulu is a media site that presents videos with advertising. It can do whatever it wants. YouTube is a hosting service. It's not allowed to know what videos are uploaded by users and its not allowed to generate revenue against those videos. It can only sell advertising around videos it has licenses to.
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Ruling: First Sale Doctrine Applies to Promotional CDs
Peter Brantley
June 12, 2008
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Universal Music Group (UMG) tried to prevent sales of promotional CDs labeled "Not for Resale," but a federal district court says the first sale doctrine extends to these promotional discs. From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
In its ruling, the district court found that the initial recipients of "promo CDs" own them, notwithstanding "not for resale" labels. The court rejected the notion that these labels create a "license," concluding that the CDs are gifts. According to the opinion, "UMG gives the Promo CDs to music industry insiders, never to be returned ... Nor does the licensing label require the recipient to provide UMG with any benefit to retain possession." (The court also found that federal postal laws relating to "unordered merchandise" establish that promo CDs are gifts to their recipients.)
With software vendors, laser printer manufacturers, and patent owners trying to strip consumers of their first sale rights with unilateral labels, licenses, and notices, today's ruling sets an important precedent holding the line against these efforts (and comes one day after the Supreme Court reaffirmed the same principle in the patent context in Quanta v. LG).
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PBS Online Videos Include Advertising
Peter Brantley
June 12, 2008
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PBS is releasing shows on the video site Hulu, but incorporating advertising with a revenue sharing plan. The New York Times Bits blog discusses the move with Andrew Russell, senior vice president of PBS Ventures:
PBS has moved online slowly, and right now it makes only a small fraction of its content available over the Internet. One reason is the complexity of the rights to its programs. Nova, for example, is produced by WGBH in Boston, which acquires individual episodes from various production companies. Only in some cases does PBS actually have the rights to distribute shows online.
Mr. Russell said that by exploring digital distribution with the programs that the network does have rights to, it hopes to build the case to show that producers should let it distribute their shows online. This means offering them a good share of the advertising revenue or download fees. The online deals also show corporate and foundation sponsors that the programs are reaching a wider audience.
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Researchers: Government Should Build Reusable Data, Not Web Sites
Peter Brantley
June 10, 2008
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In a paper going around quite rapidly, researchers argue that the government should move to emphasize structured, reusable data over solely user-facing Web portals. From Ars Technica:
A new paper from researchers at Princeton University suggests a different strategy. David Robinson, Harlan Yu, William Zeller, and Ed Felten, all of Princeton's Information Technology Policy Center, suggest that government officials abandon the dream of developing usable web sites, and instead focus on providing raw public data such as regulatory decisions, Congressional votes, and campaign finance data in open, structured formats such as RSS and XML. This raw data would be made freely and publicly available to anyone who wanted it and could be used for any purpose.
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Future Electronic Paper Display Devices
Peter Brantley
June 10, 2008
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Nice overview of electronic paper display (EPD) technologies at Computerworld:
[Fujitsu's] Fabric PC looks like a soft trifolded portfolio. Opened, it reveals a flat keyboard on one panel and a display on the other -- a display that wraps under the keyboard. Unfold the keyboard as well and the entire inner surface of the device is an EPD screen as big as a desktop display.
The Fabric PC isn't a product prototype, stresses Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product marketing at Fujitsu, but an indication of the direction the company sees the market taking. A Fujitsu subsidiary, Fujitsu Frontech, is one of the companies working on EPD technology, and it has produced sample quantities of color e-reader devices and sign panels.
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Trees, Not Ebooks, Are the Real Source of Publishing's Worry
Peter Brantley
June 4, 2008
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Seth Godin is worried about the focus on paper, and how much it costs:
I worry about my esteemed friends in the book publishing industry as well. The amazing thing about the Times story today was the report that the mood at BEA was "unease" about ebooks. The fastest-growing, lowest cost segment of the business, the one that offers the most promise, the best possible outcome and has the best results ... is causing unease! All because of the trees.
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Borders Cuts 274 Positions
Peter Brantley
June 3, 2008
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Borders is cutting 274 jobs, with most of the hit being absorbed by corporate groups within the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. headquarters. From Publishers Weekly:
Borders stressed that with a few exceptions none of the cuts came at the store level and a spokesperson said there are no plans to reduce the number of store employees. The cuts represented about 20% of Borders's corporate positions but only 1% of its total workforce.
The cuts are part of Borders' move to reduce expenses by $120 million over the next year and a half, PW reports.
Late last month, Barnes & Noble said it is studying a possible acquisition of Borders.
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