Tech Law Prof Blog

Another Upgrade Coupon Program from Microsoft?

Another report suggests that Microsoft will introduce a program to offer free Windows 7 upgrades to those who purchase Vista machines after July 1.  The economy is precarious enough without stifling computer sales in anticipation of a new operating system.  Microsoft must really mean to deliver the OS in 2010 if this comes to pass.

iTunes Going DRM-less

One announcement from MacWorld yesterday is that the iTunes store will remove DRM from the entire catalog.  Apple will also introduce variable pricing, though the price points are fixed at 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29.  As with any number of things Apple said it wouldn't do, this is another turn around.  This should help take the pressure off Apple with the European Union.  More from Information Week.

RIAA Gets It's Man in the Justice Department

The new number three man in the Obama Justice Department is Tom Pirelli.  His clients in private practice included the RIAA and he litigated several file sharing cases on behalf of the trade association.  He also defended the Copyright Term Extension Act which was ultimately held Constitutional by the Supreme Court.  More from Declan McCullagh at CNET.

FTC Interested in DRM Implementations

The Federal Trade Commission is requesting comment, due by January 30th, on DRM technology.  This in in conjunction with an FTC Town Hall to Address Digital Rights Management Technologies.  The comment form is here.

From the press release:

The Federal Trade Commission and the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law will host a conference on the use of digital rights management technologies, a widespread practice that is expected to become increasingly prevalent in the U.S. marketplace in the coming years.

Digital rights management (DRM) refers to technologies typically used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, and copyright holders to attempt to control how consumers access and use media and entertainment content. Among other issues, the workshop will address the need to improve disclosures to consumers about DRM limitations.

A Little Bit of Sony in Every Xbox, and Thoughts on Blu-Ray

Recent news is that Microsoft's XBox is outselling Sony's Playstation 3 by over 8 million units worldwide.  That's a whole lot of XBoxes.  What makes this competition ironic is an article in Ars Technica about the development of the chip that powers both consoles.  Sony apparently paid about $400 million to IBM to develop the Cell processor that powers the Playstation 3.  IBM then made design changes to the chip suiting Microsoft but keeping the the essential core (or in this case, multiple cores) intact for the XBox.  IBM, Toshiba, and Microsoft were committed to commercializing the chip and IBM did.  One has to wonder if lawyers think about these things when they work up these contracts.

Speaking of Sony, one of the "compelling" reasons to buy a Playstation 3 (from a marketing perspective, at least) is that it doubles as a Blu-Ray player.  Sony used the game system as a trojan to get the hi-def player into the home and win the battle of formats with Toshiba.  Full speed ahead then?  Not quite.  The end of the format war helped get more standalone players into homes, but widespread adoption hasn't happened.  Standard DVDs played on upscaling players sold for as low as $40 seem to be good enough for most people.  The least expensive Blu-Ray player is about $200 and doesn't sport the Internet capabilities Sony is counting on to spur adoption.  Movie watching could be a social experience where people comment to each other in real time about what's happening on screen.  Blu-Ray discs could also link to the web for exclusive content not on the disc such as another trailer.  These features may appeal to some, but I suspect that most people simply want to watch a movie.

LG is doing one better by putting Internet capabilities directly into its TV sets where consumers can download hi-def films from Netflix without any additional equipment.  This plays into the more likely market where renting a film is cheaper than buying it.  One marketing ploy is to ask how many times will someone actually watch that DVD?  When Blu-Ray discs are premium priced over standard discs, that question becomes more significant.  More competition for hi-def programming will come when television broadcasts go all digital.  There will be a point when cable, satellite, and broadcast will offer alternatives.  Sony and the studios need to lower prices on this format.  It's going to be a niche otherwise.

News and Comments Now that the Holidays are Over

It's been a while, but sometimes a vacation is good.  Over the holiday break we found out a few things:

• VHS is dead, but you probably knew that.  Here's the official notice courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.
• Texting costs phone companies a lot less than they charge.  A LOT less.  Congress is interested in knowing why.
• Intel leaves nothing to chance in accounting for its products.  It goes beyond marketing research by hiring anthropologists for its staff.  This came up in a CNN story about Yahoo and Intel collaborating on smart, interactive web-based television that, gasp, may be living room based.  There is probably a market for combined television and the Internet.  That's obvious with web sites such as Hulu, Joost, YouTube, and others.  The holy grail for Microsoft is getting the PC in the living room.  With all the boxes Microsoft (Web TV anyone?), Apple, Amazon, TiVo, and Blockbuster have to deliver content, convergence doesn't look like its 1990s vision.
• Speaking of dead technology, the 30 Gig Zune model decided to die en mass on New Year's Eve.  No comets or meteors involved in this one.  Microsoft traced the problem to the clock, which couldn't handle the extra day in a leap year.  Microsoft recommends draining the battery and restarting the player after Noon GMT on January 1st.  That seems to do the trick.  Will there still be a Zune when this happens again in 2012?
• Digital downloads outpaced album sales for the first time, but the value of digital downloads did not make up the value lost in falling physical unit sales.  In other words, the labels sold more files, but didn't make as much money.  Lamentable in one sense, but the business model of selling music by the album is a dead one.  The labels will figure that out one of these days and adjust.  Bands will as well.
• The beta of Windows 7 was leaked via various torrent sites.  It officially comes out later.  The reviews are mixed.  Then again, people hated XP interface changes initially, but got used to them.  The same thing happened with Vista, though some did not get over them and stuck with XP.  Windows 7 is getting a better pre-release impression than Vista.  Aside from the the previously noted changes to the task bar, Microsoft really wants you to access programs from the Start Menu search.  It's doing its best to suppress desktop icons.  Expect a treasure hunt of customization settings to get it to work your way instead of Microsoft's way.  The Engineering Windows 7 blog has more general information on the interface changes.