IP blackmail, music new business models

If you threat someone on IP ground, be right, or prepare for retaliation:

Groundless patent threat over wine tap leads to Smurfit payout

“The industry’s efforts to salvage its sales-based revenue model have compelled it to resist consumer demand for full, unfettered, DRM-free access to music; blocked consumer electronics makers and technology firms from offering new products with next generation capabilities; limited the growth of webcasting and other digital audio services; chilled free speech and interfered with academic freedom on university campuses; caused distortions in the music licensing marketplace; relegated consumers to black-market services where adware, spyware, and privacy violations abound; and exposed consumers to ruinous infringement liability damages for conduct occurring in the privacy of their homes.”

Always good to read this from someone else. But there’s more. Intellectual property law attorney Bennett Lincoff looks for an alternative business models so artists can make a living out of their work in a world where copying can’t be stopped. Read Bennett Lincoff essay.