Law... and the Internet

[imoldernu]

This may be overkill... info you probably don't need to spend time reading, but it was interesting to me.
I was looking up the lyrics for "Meadowlark" as sung by Sarah Brightman, and came on this website that covered law and the internet... and more specifically copyright.

https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/11749607

At the bottom of the cited page, is a FAQ list that delves into how law covers internet activities as pertains to copyright. The "About" link at the top of the page cover a wider range of the legalities involved in use of the internet.

I was particularly interested in some of the points of law that cover what is "acceptable use"... fewer restrictions than I would have thought. Leads to wondering if many of the Tech IPO's will be able to protect against copycats. Many of the current court challenges have not been adjudicated. Literally billions of dollars at risk, depending on these decisions.

All in all, an eye opener for this non lawyer.

 

[imoldernu]

One more shot, before this dies.
Taking a minute to think this through, and to consider the long term stability of tech stocks, on the basis of protecting the value of this investment by law.

Consider the difference between "product" and that which is considered to be intellectual property.

To oversimplify...
A guitar vs. a song being sold on ITunes
A baseball glove vs. Grand Theft Auto

So far, being first in tech has produced value. Do you believe that this will continue, or that competition and the quantum growth in creativity will weaken the real value of progress?

Bubbles in the Tech Sector?

 

[2017ish]

Don't know about the importance of being first in software/web tech. Need to achieve a critical mass.... (See netscape, aol, Yahoo, Friendster, myspace, etc. etc.--most of which weren't even first themselves...)

I think, for online tech esp., the importance of network effects and continued perception of usefulness/ease is greater than legal protections.

 

[photoguy]

I was particularly interested in some of the points of law that cover what is "acceptable use"... fewer restrictions than I would have thought. Leads to wondering if many of the Tech IPO's will be able to protect against copycats.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding where you're going but copyright only protects against reproduction of a specific work. It doesn't cover the general idea behind the work at all. So anybody can copy the business idea behind a tech startup. They can't copy stuff like the tech startup's user interface, their software, their artwork, etc.

So far, being first in tech has produced value. Do you believe that this will continue, or that competition and the quantum growth in creativity will weaken the real value of progress?

Being first has tremendous value in anything that has network efforts or economies of scale. But it's not first to develop or prototype the technology but rather first to develop a usable total package for users / viable ecosystem.