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Cringely Proposes a Music Sharing Alternative
WEFUNK writes "The I, Cringely 'Pulpit' column at PBS presents an interesting idea for a new business model to take on the RIAA. He suggests that a publicly traded company could legally and profitably buy a single copy of each record which could then be freely copied and listened to by its shareholders under fair use. His 'Snapster' (Son of Napster) proposal is essentially a digital music co-op that would let shareholders/consumers bring copyrighted material into a quasi-public domain. While fair use and the public domain continue to be lost in our courts and congresses, maybe the capital markets will offer an alternative." While a neat idea, it's doubtful that it'll ever be implemented. Still, it's a good read.
Didn't my.mp3.com get in trouble even though they owned one CD of all the albums they were electronically distributing? And the judge still declared that illegal...
Right. But the people they distributed to were not shareholders of the company. That's the point here.
It's a funny idea, but ultimately it's a silly one. It's the surest cause for the legislators to take away fair use, or change it so it's not so fair.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
The doctrine of fair use was originally adopted by judges ruling in early copyright cases. Ultimately, Congress incorporated the doctrine into the Copyright Act of 1976, where fair use is now codified at Section 107 of Title 17 of the U.S. Code. In creating section 107, Congress listed four factors to be considered in determining whether a use is fair or not:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
These factors are essentially the same factors that had been used over the years by judges, and Congress's stated intent was to preserve the fair use doctrine as it had evolved. However, as many courts have pointed out over the years, whether something constitutes fair use is very fact-specific. It is difficult to craft a clear, bright-line rule that explains which particular uses of a work are fair use and which are infringement. In short, the exact parameters of fair use are often determined based on the facts of specific cases.
Just from a quick look Cringely's idea, while novel, seems to violate several of the 4 criteria. This would be copyright infringement for comercial gain on a massive scale. No way any judge would believe that this falls under the intent of fair use.
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
>You can't just decide to do it, there are significant capitalization requirements, to say nothing of the money the bankers will want for doing the work for you.
Your ignorance is equally breathtaking.
Cost to incorporate (where I live): $403.30
Cost to put your corporation on a penny stock market: Minimal (free? I'm not sure).
Amount of bookeeping required: Almost none, short of dealing with taxes. ZERO SEC requires, that's for sure.
You think such a corporation has to be Nasdaq listed or something? At best you might need to hire 1 accountant to get going. Big deal.
By the way, I'm incorporated. Want to buy shares? Well, I'm not selling right now, but the effort required by me is none. The only thing I'd have to send you is a paper saying how much stock you've bought, and get the accountant to record your purchase in the books. I never have to speak with you again, if I didn't want to. Total cost to me? About $0.10 if you include the price of the toilet paper your stock would be printed on along with the accountant's fee (assuming he enters everything in all together when closing the books at the end of the year, like with my corporation).
Here's a few examples that might be helpful to you. How many of them do you think are going to give out shareholder's packages every year? 2... maybe 3?
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC