A Copyfighter’s Musings

1.  Matt would appreciate this: “Copyright Category Confusion and Its Consequences: Online Transmissions and the Rights of Exclusive Use Under Copyright.”  I like this bit in particular:

” The first sale doctrine is not triggered, however, until a distribution occurs; if an online transmission is deemed a reproduction but not a distribution, the first sale doctrine would not apply to the user’s copy. No rental for profit would then be permissible without the permission of the website copyright owner.”

2.  The other day, I considered renting a movie from MovieLink.  I always like to see how these new DRMized offerings work – I like playing around with them, seeing what actions produce error messages, experiencing the service’s (dis)ease of use.  Experiencing the service first hand gives me a feel for its potential for success and the current state of the industry. 

Plus, I was tired of studying, and I didn’t want to pay the two dollars back and forth on the subway.  I didn’t want to pay 5 dollars just to rent a 3 dollar video.

So I access the website, and they’ve got the perfect movie for brains fried by studying: JackAss the movie.  I click on it, and what do I see?

A price tag of five dollars. Five dollars. To rent a movie. Over the Internet. Their price is higher than Blockbuster’s.  Not to mention the DRM.

The movie execs should know better. Supposedly, they’re the lucky ones, because they get to learn from the music industry’s Napsterization. The MPAA can avoid the RIAA’s mistakes. And, the MPAA knows where it has to end up – closer to iTunes, farther from PressPlay.  Right now, the movie industry is in PressPlay territory. Sigh.

Filed by Derek Slater at 1:08 pm under General news
Comments Off on More Loosely Connected Thoughts about Video Rental, First Sale