Copyright Law

Compare/Contrast

By Andrew Raff, Esq.

On Thursday morning, the House Judiciary Committee will have a full committee markup of the latest version of H.R. 3261 the Stop Online Piracy Act. Here's some initial analysis from Mike Masnick at Techdirt Lamar Smith Proposes New Version Of SOPA, With Just A Few Changes.

Today, comedian Louis C.K. released his latest standup special, filmed earlier this year at the Beacon Theater in New York, NY as a simple $5 direct download. No DRM, payment simply through Paypal. He's aware of the risk of piracy and believes that simply offering a product that's inexpensive and simple enough that it's a better customer experience.

I hosted a podcast discussion that I'll be posting later this week -- one of the topics we discussed was the fact that a torrent download offers the best viewing experience for any way of watching television programming. (None of the glitches of streaming, none of the commercials of broadcast and none of the interminably long menus of DVDs and Blu-Rays.) Probably the only other one that compares is iTunes (which has the disadvantage of being the most expensive way to watch lots of television.)

Is the best way to compete with casual infringements simply to offer the best experience?

Full post as published by IPTAblog on December 12, 2011 (boomark / email).