Tag Archives: economics

The iBooks Author EULA: What does it really mean?

Apple has announced iBooks Author—a new program that makes it easy for anyone to create stunning and compelling eBooks. The End User License, however, restricts anything made with iBooks Author to distribution on Apple’s channels unless you give the book away for free. NOTE: You can read a follow-up to this post outlining in more …

January 21, 2012 – 6:18 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Copyright, Economics & Commerce, Property | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (9)

Why Bitcoin isn’t a security under federal securities law

There are questions as to whether Bitcoin falls under the regulations of federal securities law. Federal securities law is a complex area of law that grants courts and the SEC great leeway in classifying investment products as securities. Nevertheless, a Bitcoin in-and-of-itself is not a security that can be regulated under federal securities la. NOTE: …

June 26, 2011 – 11:49 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Property, Securities | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (41)

Extending real-world laws to virtual worlds is a terrible idea

Governments shouldn’t interfere with the internal regulations of virtual worlds. The value of a virtual world is the fact that it exists, in an imaginary sense, outside the bounds of the real world. We visit virtual worlds to escape the real world.1 Dr. Richard Bartle wrote about this intrusion of the real world into the …

June 17, 2011 – 1:56 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Virtual Worlds | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Rivalrous and Non-Rivalrous ‘things’: Explained through song and illustration

I written multiple times about the difference between rivalrous and non-rivalrous things.  The basic difference is that only one person can ‘possess’ somethiing that is rivalrous; whereas more than one person can possess something non-rivalrous. Madisonian​.net has a post by Jacqui Lipton that links to an illustrated music video that helps explain this concept.  It …

November 17, 2010 – 9:47 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Copyright, Virtual Worlds | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Consumer’s IP Law: A review of trademarks

Two trademark stories on Techdirt highlight the power of trademark law.  The first deals with Walmart being sued by the makers of Sillybandz — this generation’s slap bracelets — for selling and distributing a competitor’s products that, Sillybandz claims, are too similar.  The second concerns trademark law causing problems for Etsy, an online marketplace for …

November 7, 2010 – 10:45 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Trademark | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

Ownership vs. License: How an English Pub highlights copyright ownership shifts

Karen Murphy, the landlord of a British Pub, wanted to provide her customers the ability to watch British Premiere League football (soccer).  The commercial licenses offered by the exclusive UK broadcaster of BPL football –  Sky — became too expensive.  Murphy turned to a Greek broadcaster, NOVA, to supply her the broadcasts for a tenth …

October 12, 2010 – 10:00 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Economics & Commerce | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6)

Busybox, Bruce Perens, and GPL Compliance; the curiousities of private common ownership and the semicommons

I.  Drama in the lands of Open Source Bruce Perens is an open source hero.  He, along with others, has done a great deal for the open source community.  One of those things was creating a program called BusyBox. In short, BusyBox helped people created very, very small, embedded Linux appliances.  We’re talking thumbdrives, floppy …

December 21, 2009 – 4:16 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Death of Middlemen, the Death of Lawyers

Middlemen are dying left and right.  Technology is making them obsolete, redundant. One way technology does this is by breaking down communication and travel barriers.  It is easier to communicate with someone across the world.  It easier to transport large volumes of goods across the world. Another way technology does this is by automation.  On …

November 29, 2009 – 11:52 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in General, The Future of Law | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Myth of Electronic Identity

Conventional thought is that transactions occurring over a distance create problems that are new and unique to those posed by face-to-face transactions. The reality is that both of these transactions face the same problem: verifying the identities of the parties involved. Many may take issue with this simplification of the ‘identity problem.’  ‘Of course,’ you’ll …

November 12, 2009 – 11:52 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Economics & Commerce | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)