Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Napster & itellectual property
Author: larry curtin Posted: 7/27/2000; 5:56:28 AM Topic: Napster ordered to be shut down Msg #: 19172 (In response to 19161) Prev/Next: 19171 / 19173
Userland has a copy protection scheme. It is the serial numbers. If I could make Frontier work without a valid serial number would it be right (I am not talking legal) to share the software with my friends? Could I just share it with those who had purchased a subscription in the past? What if I just posted it on a website? Would Userland believe me when I said that only legal owners of Frontier are downloading it?The record companies are paying the artists for the rights to the intellectual property we call "music." Most of the artists don't own that property any more. Who owns Microsoft Word, Microsoft of the programmers who developed it?
I think Napster has been hypocritical about intellectual property... from http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2607522,00.html >Last month, when the punk-rock band the Offspring >started selling T-shirts featuring the Napster logo, for >example, Napster promptly sent the group a >cease-and-desist order...
Napster was right in theory, but wrong in practice. They should have had a system in place to block an artist at the request of the intellectual property holder. With all of that said, the recording industry must evolve. If they think stopping Napster is going to solve their "control" problems, they are niave.
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