[fc-discuss] Financial Cryptography Update: Musings on IP - one good way for DRM and one bad way?

iang@iang.org iang@iang.org
Sat, 5 Nov 2005 18:08:34 +0000 (GMT)


 Financial Cryptography Update: Musings on IP - one good way for DRM and one bad way? 

                           November 05, 2005


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https://www.financialcryptography.com/mt/archives/000593.html



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Darren points to a great story about the development of intellectual
property ("IP") - someone in the United States has apparently succeeded
in patenting a unique plot line for a novel or film.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20051103183218268

<blockquote><i><b>Process of relaying a story having a unique plot

Abstract</b> A process of relaying a story having a timeline and a
unique plot involving characters comprises: indicating a character's
desire at a first time in the timeline for at least one of the
following: a) to remain asleep or unconscious until a particular event
occurs; and b) to forget or be substantially unable to recall
substantially all events during the time period from the first time
until a particular event occurs; indicating the character's substantial
inability at a time after the occurrence of the particular event to
recall substantially all events during the time period from the first
time to the occurrence of the particular event; and indicating that
during the time period the character was an active participant in a
plurality of events.</i></blockquote>

Do we need IP control over plot lines?	It is not clear to me that it
helps at all as the costs of managing such seem in excess of the
benefit.  Unlike the filer, I don't think we are doomed to just use the
same old plot lines forever because we have no incentive to innovate -
the artists I know are continually experimenting on new ideas and need
no additional incentives in that direction.

On the other hand they do need better systems to exploit commercially
what they have made.  (Don't we all?)  So rather than expand plot lines
to patentable ideas, why not concentrate on what we have - the better
commercialisation of the property that is there?

That's what I am looking at now.  Take some copyrighted material like a
song.  Whack a licence on it and push it out to the net.  How then can
we sell it?

One idea is to turn the material into some form digital contract
variant - write a contract, describe the IP, add some clauses, sign,
seal and deliver.  (Savvy FCers will recognise the Ricardian flavour
there.)  Then, we could issue a bunch of these.

How does this make a market?  One way is that the rights could only be
exploited - used - if you have one of these in your portfolio.	So if I
have released a song under these licences, you'd have to buy one of
these rights on the open market.  Now here's the cool part:  when you
have finished with the song and got bored of it, you could sell it on!

The Issuer would be happy with this as pricing would then reach some
sort of stability around demand.  Supply could be set initially as
fixed - just like editions of prints by picture artists.  And, if there
was a transaction fee for transfer of a few percentage points, every
time the song right got sold, there would be a steady revenue stream
coming into the rights holder's pot.

I can't see a flaw in this design, although I can see some arbitrary
complications I skipped over for brevity.  Any comments?

PS: this is not an enforced design - all this does is trade the rights,
not control them.  It would work for those that choose to participate. 
(Also, I'm not entirely sure that I'm the first person to think of it. 
But it doesn't seem to relate to other people's designs that I'm aware
of.)

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