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Copyright Industrial Policy

Started by TLF · 11 months ago

My final contribution to the June edition of Cato Unbound is up. I criticize Doug Lichtman call for “more complicated [copyright policy] interventions that, by design, influence the development of technology tools and services”:
Back in the late 1990s, companies ... Continue reading »

4 comments

  • MikeT

    1 year ago

    Indeed. I'll do you one better than the jukebox. I can convert a DVD into a MPEG4 video of identical quality easily using Handbrake. The new file will take up about 2.25GB of hard drive space, and have no discernible loss in quality from the original data. Without the DMCA, Apple could have easily built features into iTunes to allow me transfer any movie I want from my DVD shelf to my Apple TV for convenience.
    reply
  • dmarti

    1 year ago

    Without the DMCA, you could openly sell a mod chip for PlayStation and XBox consoles "to run Linux" that would also allow the consoles to run infringing copies of Grand Theft Auto IV.

    Easy access to mod chips would mean that game companies would be less likely to invest in story and detail that makes a game valuable in single-player mode, and just concentrate on MMORGs where they can make money from subscriptions.
    reply
  • Lewis Baumstark

    1 year ago

    Don: those same companies produce top-quality games for PCs, which are quite capable of running infringing copies straight out of the box. Clearly the illegality of mod chips has little to do with innovation in the video game market.
    reply
  • Don Marti

    1 year ago

    GTA IV is only out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

    It's not necessarily the technical quality of the game that the DMCA encourages, but all the offline-usable art and story detail.

    Naturally the DMCA discourages many other investments, and many of those might have been more valuable or useful to more people. It's interesting and rare to see a content creation investment that the DMCA promotes.
    reply

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