(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully (emphasis added)
That might be a problem for them. Well, in the US, at least.
"Wait, what? You know what the Declaration of Independence also didn't include? Anything about how much 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' costs"
Actually, it does, and its fairly expensive… it's only one of the famous lines: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Hypothetically, if a content gatekeeper could remove Sturgeon's 90%,
that'd be immensely valuable.
Consider different retailers — some, when you walk in the store, you
know 90% of the stuff in the store is going to be of poor quality. You
have to figure out, for each item you wish to purchase, "is this of
acceptable quality?". That takes time.
Other retailers try quite hard to make sure everything they sell is
of high quality. You can grab a random item off the shelf, and be pretty
confident that it's of good quality. You don't have to spend time
determining that yourself.
Time is valuable.
Whether Apple is succeeding in this and if they're going about it in
the best possible manner are different questions; but most definitely
there is value in a gatekeeper.
Another fairly clear example: Consider back when FTP archives were a
popular way to get freeware & shareware, back in the mid-to-late
90's. (Anyone remember the Info-Mac Archive?) Archive operators would
perform an important and valuable content gatekeeper action: They would
run a virus scan.
There are many problems with content gatekeepers, of course, but
remember there are advantages too, and in some situations they may —
overall — make sense.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Anthony.
For more fun, consider 17 USC ?103(a)
Cost of life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness
<pedantry>
"Wait, what? You know what the Declaration of Independence also didn't include? Anything about how much 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' costs"
Actually, it does, and its fairly expensive… it's only one of the famous lines: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
</pedantry>
Hypothetically, if a content gatekeeper could remove Sturgeon's 90%, that'd be immensely valuable.
Consider different retailers — some, when you walk in the store, you know 90% of the stuff in the store is going to be of poor quality. You have to figure out, for each item you wish to purchase, "is this of acceptable quality?". That takes time.
Other retailers try quite hard to make sure everything they sell is of high quality. You can grab a random item off the shelf, and be pretty confident that it's of good quality. You don't have to spend time determining that yourself.
Time is valuable.
Whether Apple is succeeding in this and if they're going about it in the best possible manner are different questions; but most definitely there is value in a gatekeeper.
Another fairly clear example: Consider back when FTP archives were a popular way to get freeware & shareware, back in the mid-to-late 90's. (Anyone remember the Info-Mac Archive?) Archive operators would perform an important and valuable content gatekeeper action: They would run a virus scan.
There are many problems with content gatekeepers, of course, but remember there are advantages too, and in some situations they may — overall — make sense.