Slashdot Mirror
Universal Music Hit with Anti-Piracy Suit
prostoalex writes "Remember Bon Jovi trying to fight piracy with individual PIN numbers that legitimate buyers could get off the CD? DownloadCard, who claims to have invented the technology, filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group saying the music execs stole the technology and trade secrets from the company. Yahoo! Launch headline suggests that Bon Jovi album might be delayed because of the lawsuit."
That's the best news I've heard all day...
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
Patents suck Patents suck Patents suck... er... hello what's this?
Yahoo! Launch headline suggests that Bon Jovi album might be delayed because of the lawsuit."
Yay for patents! Yay for patents! Yay for patents!
NO CARRIER
More IP BS, this time entirely between those that abuse such laws regularly.
Money gets shifted around, and we, the consumers, get screwed like usual. The *only* outcome I see from this involves the album coming out late, and the lawsuit justifying yet more "cost-added" excuses on the part of the recording industry.
I'll care more when 72 minutes of pure audio doesn't cost 50% more than 2 hours of high quality movie footage with soundtracks in three language plus bonus material, AND I can legally (and easily) store what I buy on my file server. Until then, the MPAA and RIAA can collectively "bite me".
Why is this a novel technology? Sure, it's never been done by the music industry, but the commercial software folks have been providing "registration keys" for decades now.
This just doesn't strike me as something that should be patentable. Of course, that seldom impedes the patent process.
Bon Jovi rocks! Peace, out.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
they'll just give up. Hopefully.
./ community has been pushing for for months! The record companies are going to do something one way or another, with this scheme instead of taking something away they are giving something extra. If they give up on this scheme more likely than not they are going to shove some anti-piracy, anti-fair use, anti-consumer DRM technology down their throat. Even if we didn't want this scheme to work this is precisly the type of soft patent that we are trying to get rid of, the moment we start selling ourself by abusing the very flaws we are trying to get rid of in the patent system we are worse than the corporations who are doing it (at least they won't be hypocrites). No we do not want this actually good idea industry to fail. No we do not want to abuse a flawed patent system. We do not want this lawsuit to succed.
From the original article
Retail CDs will be distributed with a unique serial number with which the purchaser can register in order to receive such exclusives as prioritized concert ticket purchases and unreleased music.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT THEM TO DO!!!
Added value for purchasing the CD is what most of the
I stole this Sig
So, suddenly IP is a real thing and patent suits are great?
/. crowd get's a bit narrow sighted.
/.ers (or just a few) listens to BonJovi (I don't) which automatically means that he's a crappy, bad sounding, commercial doll, which again means that everything he (or those who really control him) does is bad.
/.y principal suit.
/.ers) would like.
/. is not the center of the world. Even though we dislike something/someone doesn't mean that others have to dislike it/them too.
It seems to me that somethimes the
Here are the facts:
1. No
2. Universal can be regarded as big and bad.
3. DownloadCard is David fighting Goliat for the money. It's not a
4. Universal is making an honest attempt to fight piracy without crippeling user rights. They are trying to make the CDs you purchase more like DVDs, with extra stuff BonJovi fans (not
Belive it or not,
Look a monkey!
The Constitution does NOT grant rights to the people. The government has no power (authority) to grant rights! The powers of government are explicitly stated in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution and expanded on by a few of the Amendments.
The people inherently have rights, and the Constitution establishes that the people grant the government certain powers, but that those powers are limited and the government is not permitted to take away the rights of the people. Certain of those rights are enumerated in the Bill of Rights. However, carefully read the Ninth Amendment:
Thus the fact that a right to privacy is not specifically enumerated in the Constitution or Bill of Rights does NOT mean that the people don't have that right, or that the government has the power to take away that right from the people.The Supreme Court has repeatedly found that the people do have a right to privacy.
However, as with all rights, there are some limitations. It is not possible to grant an absolute right without simultaneously taking away another right. For instance, you have the right to swing your fist, but that right ends where my nose begins.
Back to your posting:
Actually, the Fourth Amendment doesn't say anything about a crime in progress. It says: Note that this doesn't even say that the police can conduct a search without a warrant if they have probable cause. It says that if they have probably cause, and give an Oath or affirmation, a warrant shall issue. This is possibly the most-trampled of the enumerated rights.Umm it's a PIN for crying out loud. Banks have been using this same system for ages, not to mention about a billion other business. I mean really whats the diff between this technology wise than with a CD key for winxp?
All it is, is a number that allows you to access a service or feature. I could do this with pen and paper if I wanted too.
Maybe i'm not understanding their "technology", so feel free to correct me.
You can't ignore other people's intellectual property, damnit. Only pirates would do that kind of stuff.
True, but you can redefine how much of their intellectual property they own.
Seems strange? Well, copyrights have been extended a couple of times (mostly at the whim of large content providers) in legislation. Otherwise, all of Elvis's work would be in the public domain by now, for example. Just like nobody owns Beethoven's or Mozart's work.
The truth is, its not as if intellectual property is a black and white issue.
Michael
There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
And by the same token, one should not withhold support from the US Government's prosecution of Microsoft just because one likes Microsoft.
Now that we have that minor little point sewen up... mind if we remain focused on the topic at hand?
Did I miss something? I thought the Bon Jovi thing was just like printing a unique serial on the booklet or a piece of paper that comes with the thing, or something.
How the hell is that technology, or more to the point, patentable?
I think it's because companies finally ran out of existing ideas that they could patent by tacking on "with a computer". The next round of bad patents will take obvious ideas and tack on "by an 80's hair band".
For instance, DownloadCard has the rights to "a means of using and distributing unique serial identifiers to provide redeemable incentives to discourage the online theft of intellectual property where said intellectual property is audio or video media content by an 80's hair band". The Dave Matthews Band and the Crystal Method were able to get around this patent by not being an 80's hair band, but Universal finally got busted for trying it with Bon Jovi.
In related news, Jeff Bezos has just invented and patented a one-click combination CD player power-on/play button to allow quick and efficient listening of any of his favorite music by an 80's hair band.
My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
you're wrong. That's NOT what I want.
.02
First. There is NO WAY that I want a UNIQUE identifier linking me w/ANY purchase.
Second. Fuck that, I don't want priority on concert tickets nor do I want unreleased music. The music is easy to find (see Sopranos season 4 ep. 1 - 4 on Kazaa or IRC).
What I want is simple. I want CHEAP music. I want music to be like movies... I can wait several months and buy a DVD at $9.99 when it was originally $25.00. Why the fuck doesn't music drop in price like that? They come out at $12.99+ and stay that way or even GO UP.
Sorry, but movies have the same amount of longevity as music. They should go down in price (just like everything else).
I will CONTINUE to support free music until the "BIG ARTISTS" and the RIAA decides that what they are doing is DUMB as HELL.
That's my worthless
They should be giving out the PIN numbers to pay to have it turned off, not on. I think they'll make a lot more money that way.
Put all the legal teams in a cage and give them knifes. The legal team still standing at the end gets $1 million, and their client wins. (Appeals could be handled by pistols at 20 paces).
The outcome would stand about the same as the current way our courts work, just faster and far more entertaining.
The Internet is generally stupid
An AC wrote:
.Net, Office XP, and Windows Media Player infringe on its patents.
> You can't ignore other people's intellectual
> property, damnit. Only pirates would do that kind
> of stuff.
Three incidents show the tip of an iceberg:
1) Eisner, Disney's president, showed a pirated Sony movie at a Senate hearing on Hollings' bill.
2) CNN showed a pirated tape of a bin Laden interview after the Afghan TV station that did the interview refused to give the rights to show the interview to CNN.
3) InterTrust is suing Microsoft because DRM in Windows XP,
Face it, the very people who want to treat customers like criminals and take away our rights are the biggest pirates of all!
Actually, "Mosura no Uta" (Mothra's Song) has a better term for people like these, the words it applied to Nelson and his goons: "tong yu" or "barrel of sharks". Me, I just call 'em "media sharks".
Bells are ringing: Mothra, Mothra! Every heart is calling: Mothra, Mothra!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!