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[IP] more on more on Is Real's 'hacking' of iPod legal?





Begin forwarded message:

From: John Grady <john_grady@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 3, 2004 11:03:42 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] more on more on Is Real's 'hacking' of iPod legal?
Reply-To: john_grady@xxxxxxxxx


Chris Savage writes:

A creator owning the exclusive right to reproduce their own work is not
a monopoly situation.

This was true when creative works were limited to music compositions or other artistic endeavors. However, in today's world you can gain exclusive rights over technologies or business methods that establish new industries. This market power can easily become monopolistic in a fast moving industry. Gaining exclusive rights to blue lasers, carbon nanotubes or DRM (none of which I would put past our PTO) would constitute a monopoly in those newly enabled industries. If Betamax, MD or Memory Sticks were our only recording altenatives due to IP protection for data storage, it would
hard to argue Sony didn't have a monopoly.

Apple's iPod certainly doesn't meet the definition of a monopoly at this point.

John Grady
Midwestern University - AZCOM

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