The Shadow of the MOOC Grows Longer
Will massive open online courses (MOOCs) disrupt higher education? With recent announcements, the potential seems to be growing.
Intellectual Property Is a University’s Best Friend
Universities should seek to retain control of their copyrights and develop mechanisms to monetize them to ensure the financial health of the institutions. This is a proposal that sides neither with open access advocates nor with the interests of commercial organizations.
CC-Huh? Fundamental Confusions About the Role of Copyright and the Reuse of Data
A fundamental confusion between articles and data leads to a call for more CC licenses and less copyright. But why are data being closed down while articles are being opened up? Is there a fundamental misunderstanding of copyright, licensing, and rights?
Reclaiming the Lost Publishing Mojo
Publishers have lost ground in the public debate of the role of publishing in scholarly communications. A new strategy is needed, one that emphasizes preemption, cooptation, and innovation.
The Google/AAP Settlement: Less Than Meets the Eye?
AAP and Google have reached a confidential settlement over Google Books. But the larger Authors Guild case remains.
The Financial Burdens of the CC-BY License for Scholarly Literature
By allowing free commercial use of OA articles, current CC licenses may shift costs to researchers, presage an unsustainable information economy, and ultimately work against their stated goals. A commercially viable option might actually prove more sustainable.
Why Restrictions on Reuse Are Sometimes Important
“How Open Is It?” offers a useful set of parameters for defining “open,” but some fundamental questions remain, including the commercial and social consequences of free distribution.
Do Hamsters Pirate Books?
While the effect of piracy on some book sales is still debatable, college textbooks lose sales when online file-sharing becomes prevalent. A recent examination of the situation in a market outside the U.S. provides a laboratory example.
Help! I've Been Plagiarized
The author recounts an experience in which one of his blog posts. He was saved when an Internet community rode to his rescue.
"Patenterprise" — Jean Luc Picard, Apple, and Androids
In space, nobody can hear you litigate.
Georgia State Redux: And Now the Trouncing Is Complete
What once appeared to be a lopsided ruling has, in its final form, turned into something much more definitive.
Driving Innovation: Finding the Balance Between Fair Reward and Profiteering
Vitriol may have obscured important points in a post last week. The growing business strategy of our era is to drive the cost of everyone else’s product to zero in order to make more money from your own product. This imbalance stifles innovation and creation.
Working and Living Inside the Game — Source Filmmaker and E-books Make Us Part of the Action
Creative people are using our inputs — and letting us do the same — to drive more creativity.
The Beatles Yesterday and Today: An Allegory of the Role of Paid Content
An essay on the Beatles and their business model, which emphasized paid content, now called “toll-access” content. The question is how the Beatles would have been different if they had worked in an era where content was expected to be free.
Final Score in the Georgia State Game: Library 94, Publishers 5
The GSU case serves as a strong rebuke for publishers over fair use and copyright claims, while recognizing that some boundaries remain.