Dear anonymous,
Please quote Mike where he stated that VCRs could copy movies with the click of a button in hours without expense or inconvenience. Thank you.
Jim, thanks for letting us know your stance. You have an excellent company and one that provides a great line of products in the music place. I definitely appreciate your concern about others selling inferior products and claiming they are actual D'Addario strings. That could be very frustrating to the consumer that finds that the product is not up to the highest quality that I know you support. I know *I* have used D'Addario strings on my mandolin for awhile now and enjoyed them the whole time. Elderly Instruments is practically my home away from home.
I think that's what makes it all the harder for me then to let you know that more than the quality of the tone and action on my mandolin, I care about the 1st Amendment and the due process of law. If you think someone is committing a crime, all the parties should have the chance to argue in court and let the law decide. That's the way the law *should* work. Not the government deciding to silence an accused person before a trial and no hope for one afterwards, which is what COICA supports.
I just wanted you to know that from here on out, my mandolin will have Thomastiks on it. They're more expensive to me, but it a vote with my dollar for what I believe in. I hope you reconsider your support of undermining the due process. It's a shame to see an honest company support such dishonest legislation.
So, you spent $750,000 and it "got nowhere". Well, at least you recognize that much. Seems like as a company owner you would want to not spend $750,000 on activities that get you "nowhere". That's probably 10+ jobs right there!
If you are planning on spending $750,000 in 2011 on something that gets you "nowhere", can I give you my home address, you can just send me a check. You won't have to worry at all what to waste your money on until next year.
This is one Walmart shouldn't win. You state there is no right granted to use the Walmart name, logo, or likeness. The right that is granted is to Walmart for limited protection of their trademark. It is not a right for exclusive use. Therefore, one can infer the opposite that non-trademark holders have not been barred from use of the the trademark under those non-protected areas. The arguement is whether the Union's use is one of those non-protected areas. I would argue that an attempt to organize a Union of employees that work at Walmart might have a strong case for using the Walmart trademarks. Whether you agree or disagree with Union's, it's hard to communicate that your intent is to orangize Walmart employees if you can't actually refer to them or to the company.
I guess I'm confused by the term "absolute authority" as compared to saying that the comment the "Walmart sucks" doesn't show a link to Walmart. Doesn't that mean that the authority you are advocating isn't absolute, but has some restriction to it, like whether or not the comment is linked to Walmart? Absolute sounds..well, absolute, not qualified.
As both an early iPhone adopter and an avid manual transmission user, I disagree and I think there is a consistent reason why I am a fan of both of them. I want to use technology that gets out of my way and connects me directly to the task at hand. After years of phones that gave me bottled up and distilled versions of internet services, finally a phone that got out of the way and just gave you the web or email, close to the way it was on your home computer. Same thing with a stick-shift. Once you understand the basic skill, it just gets out of your way and you are connected to the experience of driving. It doesn't guess what you might want to do It doesn't assume you wanted to do something else. It just does what you tell it to. Simple. Easy to understand. Consistent interface. I find both of them extremely satisfying to use because I barely notice the tool I'm using, I just enjoy the act of using it.
"Why is it that suddenly these investors believe the company can actually win a legal battle?"
They don't and never did. It's not about winning. It's about using the broken IP system to blugdeon others by proxy. Win or lose, it's a cheap way for (someone) to slander and libel the Linux community and get away with it for a penny or two.
Didn't Blackstone (http://finance.google.com/finance?q=BX) just become a PUBLIC firm? So wouldn't criticizing them for private equity behaviors be a bit off target? Maybe I missed something.
The fatal flaw with your arguement comes directly from your example.
"You purchase a copy of the book..."
Purchase. Key word. You were remunerated for the copy. Along with that payment, certain rights are transmitted. In this case, no payment was made. No rights are transmitted. The commercial use of others un-paid for property is the *KEY* to this company. Without the infringement, there is no product or service.
Unless the schools wave the rights of the students work that they probably will already claim is theirs, I would guess that Turnitin, while justifying their behavior with "think of the children" rationality, is most likely in for tough road.
It's days like this make me embarassed to be a US citizen. Fellow citizens, take a moment out of your week and read a book about what the French did during WW1. You know, that really big war before WW2? Then think about how quickly the next war was at their doorsteps. American citizens have NEVER been faced with such a challenge. When you've lost so many of your people to one war, who is left to fight the next? The bravery and courage of the French in the face of of WW1 far out shines whatever hollow critisism you may lob at them for some perceived slight you feel after WW2.
Oh, and what the hell does this have to do with email names again?
While I've usually sided with the "pro-IP" side often, I'm beginning to see a lot of benefits lately to the "anti-IP" side. I use "IP" to lump together patents, trademark, and copyrights. They all seem to have some serious issues lately and I'm starting to think that too many people view the critique that something needs to be fixed as equivalent to everything should be abolished. RIM-NTP was just such a glaring example of one facet.
I look to the Coke v. Pepsi wars for an ideal situation in my mind. The leader on any given day in that war is the one that pilots their ship the most efficiently, advertises well, distributes most effectively, capitalizes on pop culture trends, etc. It's not about hiding some secret or locking your consumers into your product through legal means. It's a commodity. Let everyone compete on an open playing field and have at it. May the best man be left standing at the end of the day. We all win that way.
If you are actually a savy investor, I want every gambler and idiot on the market possible. Their losses will be my gains. When they drive up demand for something that shouldn't be that high, it's time to take advantage of the market. If there is value to be had cheaply because everyone is looking elsewhere? I'm all about. Bring on the sheep. It's time for some fleecing.
But it seems like you're investing just looking for a gain in the market value of the stock? That seems like speculating or gamlbing to me. And the odds at the Casino are often defined by what those around you do. Maybe not hand by hand like poker, but the house establishes rules based on the probability that you and your fellow bettors will do something. If everyone suddenly changes behavior, you can bet casinos would start changing the rules.
If you're investing because you believe in the fundamentals of the company and that they will return value to you, the random movement of cattle shouldn't bother you because in the end, you'll fair much better than people who try and time the market.
If you're just hoping to ride the stock from point a to point b, then yeah, get the dummies out so they don't botch up your attempt to make a buck.
Maybe it's not a good plan, but it smacks of a lot of the same arguements as "only the educated should vote because other wise the dumb people will screw up the country." It may be true, but I don't want to impose restrictions at the polls either.
Free markets should be just that. The penalty for not knowing what you're doing is you lose your money. Stay out if you don't want to lose everything.
The silly little secret is that most financial players *ARE* gamblers. They have hunches and they play their hunches. There are no mathmatical formulas to follow. There are no guarentees. They look at the current P/E and income and in their minds they think "yeah, over the next couple years, I think this is going to go somewhere."
Sounds like a gamble to me.
The other little secret is that unless you're buying in MASSIVE quantities, you're probably losing a ton to the middlemen. Yahoo and it's sort cut a lot of those middle men out. Overall that's good for the market. It means you and I can be more educated and get taken for a ride less often.
Most people advocating for more regulation do so because it's in *their* financial best interest to keep others out of the market.
As a wise man once said "it's hard to beat even your dumbest competitor in a commodity market." The key to investing is knowledge. Market access is key.
Not that I disagree with you, many people use WAY too many words to say something that needs only a few words to express. That being said, in a world where black and white issues are few and far between, the *ability* to express complex and nuanced thoughts is increasingly important. I don't think that is accomplished through cursive handwriting, but saying that everything should be bullet pointed is just as problematic in my opinion.
I really don't see the contradiction in saying that acts that hurt other people, libel in this case, should be illegal in both the real and virtual world. And acts that are victimless, gambling/porn/the like, should be legal in the virtual world. One could make the arguement that it should also extend to the real world, but that's a seperate issue.
If the law firm Jenner & Block is taking this on for free, I say they need to provide a way for us, the community that will benefit from their work, to voluntarily provide them some compensation. Maybe some free publicity? Cash donations? Discounts or coupons at our businesses? Anything we can do to help these guys fight the good fight. We need to support those that are going to stand up for us when it's time. Good luck, Jenner & Block.
Free wifi is meant to attract flyers. For me, it does. I avoid Chicago specifically because I know I'm going to have a long layover and no wifi access. Screw that. I'll pay a little more for a ticket that doesn't leave me stranded and allows me to remain productive. Vote with your dollars.
I haven't ever plagarized, but I have been accused of it. They believed the paper was above the level that someone could write for that age group. It's almost impossible to prove you didn't plagarize. This product won't help that group. It will only catch those that plagarize blatantly. Nor will it catch those that just pay to have others write their papers for them.
However, Turnitin is building their company on top of the work of people who are not being compensated for their production. Without the papers of the students, Turnitin would have no service to offer. Why are the students not compensated for their efforts? Their papers are the key to Turnitin's company. Without them, Turnitin goes out of business.
I'm sure that the schools signed away the IP rights of the students for them, but ethically it seems like students are given the short end of the stick. It doesn't help that everyone is held to the guilty until proven innocent standard now.
Re: Really? VCRs?
Dear anonymous,
Please quote Mike where he stated that VCRs could copy movies with the click of a button in hours without expense or inconvenience. Thank you.
- Eunos94
Re: counterfeiting and law suits.
Jim, thanks for letting us know your stance. You have an excellent company and one that provides a great line of products in the music place. I definitely appreciate your concern about others selling inferior products and claiming they are actual D'Addario strings. That could be very frustrating to the consumer that finds that the product is not up to the highest quality that I know you support. I know *I* have used D'Addario strings on my mandolin for awhile now and enjoyed them the whole time. Elderly Instruments is practically my home away from home.
I think that's what makes it all the harder for me then to let you know that more than the quality of the tone and action on my mandolin, I care about the 1st Amendment and the due process of law. If you think someone is committing a crime, all the parties should have the chance to argue in court and let the law decide. That's the way the law *should* work. Not the government deciding to silence an accused person before a trial and no hope for one afterwards, which is what COICA supports.
I just wanted you to know that from here on out, my mandolin will have Thomastiks on it. They're more expensive to me, but it a vote with my dollar for what I believe in. I hope you reconsider your support of undermining the due process. It's a shame to see an honest company support such dishonest legislation.
$750,000?!?!
So, you spent $750,000 and it "got nowhere". Well, at least you recognize that much. Seems like as a company owner you would want to not spend $750,000 on activities that get you "nowhere". That's probably 10+ jobs right there!
If you are planning on spending $750,000 in 2011 on something that gets you "nowhere", can I give you my home address, you can just send me a check. You won't have to worry at all what to waste your money on until next year.
Re:
I know...don't feed the trolls, but...
This is one Walmart shouldn't win. You state there is no right granted to use the Walmart name, logo, or likeness. The right that is granted is to Walmart for limited protection of their trademark. It is not a right for exclusive use. Therefore, one can infer the opposite that non-trademark holders have not been barred from use of the the trademark under those non-protected areas. The arguement is whether the Union's use is one of those non-protected areas. I would argue that an attempt to organize a Union of employees that work at Walmart might have a strong case for using the Walmart trademarks. Whether you agree or disagree with Union's, it's hard to communicate that your intent is to orangize Walmart employees if you can't actually refer to them or to the company.
Re: Dilution/association
I guess I'm confused by the term "absolute authority" as compared to saying that the comment the "Walmart sucks" doesn't show a link to Walmart. Doesn't that mean that the authority you are advocating isn't absolute, but has some restriction to it, like whether or not the comment is linked to Walmart? Absolute sounds..well, absolute, not qualified.
I have to disagree
As both an early iPhone adopter and an avid manual transmission user, I disagree and I think there is a consistent reason why I am a fan of both of them. I want to use technology that gets out of my way and connects me directly to the task at hand. After years of phones that gave me bottled up and distilled versions of internet services, finally a phone that got out of the way and just gave you the web or email, close to the way it was on your home computer. Same thing with a stick-shift. Once you understand the basic skill, it just gets out of your way and you are connected to the experience of driving. It doesn't guess what you might want to do It doesn't assume you wanted to do something else. It just does what you tell it to. Simple. Easy to understand. Consistent interface. I find both of them extremely satisfying to use because I barely notice the tool I'm using, I just enjoy the act of using it.
They never thought they *could* win.
"Why is it that suddenly these investors believe the company can actually win a legal battle?"
They don't and never did. It's not about winning. It's about using the broken IP system to blugdeon others by proxy. Win or lose, it's a cheap way for (someone) to slander and libel the Linux community and get away with it for a penny or two.
Uh...Blackstone is now private again?
Didn't Blackstone (http://finance.google.com/finance?q=BX) just become a PUBLIC firm? So wouldn't criticizing them for private equity behaviors be a bit off target? Maybe I missed something.
Re: I think that's incorrect
The fatal flaw with your arguement comes directly from your example.
"You purchase a copy of the book..."
Purchase. Key word. You were remunerated for the copy. Along with that payment, certain rights are transmitted. In this case, no payment was made. No rights are transmitted. The commercial use of others un-paid for property is the *KEY* to this company. Without the infringement, there is no product or service.
Unless the schools wave the rights of the students work that they probably will already claim is theirs, I would guess that Turnitin, while justifying their behavior with "think of the children" rationality, is most likely in for tough road.
Why always just WWII?
It's days like this make me embarassed to be a US citizen. Fellow citizens, take a moment out of your week and read a book about what the French did during WW1. You know, that really big war before WW2? Then think about how quickly the next war was at their doorsteps. American citizens have NEVER been faced with such a challenge. When you've lost so many of your people to one war, who is left to fight the next? The bravery and courage of the French in the face of of WW1 far out shines whatever hollow critisism you may lob at them for some perceived slight you feel after WW2.
Oh, and what the hell does this have to do with email names again?
Re: Your site sucks.
And yet you posted. Wow.
Beginning to be a convert
While I've usually sided with the "pro-IP" side often, I'm beginning to see a lot of benefits lately to the "anti-IP" side. I use "IP" to lump together patents, trademark, and copyrights. They all seem to have some serious issues lately and I'm starting to think that too many people view the critique that something needs to be fixed as equivalent to everything should be abolished. RIM-NTP was just such a glaring example of one facet.
I look to the Coke v. Pepsi wars for an ideal situation in my mind. The leader on any given day in that war is the one that pilots their ship the most efficiently, advertises well, distributes most effectively, capitalizes on pop culture trends, etc. It's not about hiding some secret or locking your consumers into your product through legal means. It's a commodity. Let everyone compete on an open playing field and have at it. May the best man be left standing at the end of the day. We all win that way.
a second thought
If you are actually a savy investor, I want every gambler and idiot on the market possible. Their losses will be my gains. When they drive up demand for something that shouldn't be that high, it's time to take advantage of the market. If there is value to be had cheaply because everyone is looking elsewhere? I'm all about. Bring on the sheep. It's time for some fleecing.
Re: Re: I'm solidly with Joe on this
But it seems like you're investing just looking for a gain in the market value of the stock? That seems like speculating or gamlbing to me. And the odds at the Casino are often defined by what those around you do. Maybe not hand by hand like poker, but the house establishes rules based on the probability that you and your fellow bettors will do something. If everyone suddenly changes behavior, you can bet casinos would start changing the rules.
If you're investing because you believe in the fundamentals of the company and that they will return value to you, the random movement of cattle shouldn't bother you because in the end, you'll fair much better than people who try and time the market.
If you're just hoping to ride the stock from point a to point b, then yeah, get the dummies out so they don't botch up your attempt to make a buck.
Maybe it's not a good plan, but it smacks of a lot of the same arguements as "only the educated should vote because other wise the dumb people will screw up the country." It may be true, but I don't want to impose restrictions at the polls either.
I'm solidly with Joe on this
Free markets should be just that. The penalty for not knowing what you're doing is you lose your money. Stay out if you don't want to lose everything.
The silly little secret is that most financial players *ARE* gamblers. They have hunches and they play their hunches. There are no mathmatical formulas to follow. There are no guarentees. They look at the current P/E and income and in their minds they think "yeah, over the next couple years, I think this is going to go somewhere."
Sounds like a gamble to me.
The other little secret is that unless you're buying in MASSIVE quantities, you're probably losing a ton to the middlemen. Yahoo and it's sort cut a lot of those middle men out. Overall that's good for the market. It means you and I can be more educated and get taken for a ride less often.
Most people advocating for more regulation do so because it's in *their* financial best interest to keep others out of the market.
As a wise man once said "it's hard to beat even your dumbest competitor in a commodity market." The key to investing is knowledge. Market access is key.
Re: Re: Cursive Writing Affects Cognitive Developm
Not that I disagree with you, many people use WAY too many words to say something that needs only a few words to express. That being said, in a world where black and white issues are few and far between, the *ability* to express complex and nuanced thoughts is increasingly important. I don't think that is accomplished through cursive handwriting, but saying that everything should be bullet pointed is just as problematic in my opinion.
Re:
I really don't see the contradiction in saying that acts that hurt other people, libel in this case, should be illegal in both the real and virtual world. And acts that are victimless, gambling/porn/the like, should be legal in the virtual world. One could make the arguement that it should also extend to the real world, but that's a seperate issue.
Contribute to the cause
If the law firm Jenner & Block is taking this on for free, I say they need to provide a way for us, the community that will benefit from their work, to voluntarily provide them some compensation. Maybe some free publicity? Cash donations? Discounts or coupons at our businesses? Anything we can do to help these guys fight the good fight. We need to support those that are going to stand up for us when it's time. Good luck, Jenner & Block.
Avoid those airports
Free wifi is meant to attract flyers. For me, it does. I avoid Chicago specifically because I know I'm going to have a long layover and no wifi access. Screw that. I'll pay a little more for a ticket that doesn't leave me stranded and allows me to remain productive. Vote with your dollars.
My experience
I haven't ever plagarized, but I have been accused of it. They believed the paper was above the level that someone could write for that age group. It's almost impossible to prove you didn't plagarize. This product won't help that group. It will only catch those that plagarize blatantly. Nor will it catch those that just pay to have others write their papers for them.
However, Turnitin is building their company on top of the work of people who are not being compensated for their production. Without the papers of the students, Turnitin would have no service to offer. Why are the students not compensated for their efforts? Their papers are the key to Turnitin's company. Without them, Turnitin goes out of business.
I'm sure that the schools signed away the IP rights of the students for them, but ethically it seems like students are given the short end of the stick. It doesn't help that everyone is held to the guilty until proven innocent standard now.