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TechDirt is one of those great thoughtful blogs commenting on the ongoing cyberwars over copyright, intellectual property rights, trademark issues etc. This is the online coverage version of “The Great War” for an open and creative internet., Mike Masnick does a fine job of keeping up with the skirmishes and battles being fought out around the globe on these issues.
Our “style” at Innovation Toronto is to try and introduce the more interesting ideas and issues that may help to promote or stall out innovation by teasing our visitors to visit the sites of origin. Tech Dirt is a very important read if you want to truly understand what is at stake in this battle. We apologize to Mike for reproducing his entire article on a very creative approach that is being taken by ABC and others to move with the times and create terrific new value for their properties – we think it is important to showcase some of the positive creative approaches being taken to bring threatened “old” media into 21st century realities.
If you are at all interested in these issues or wonder what all of the fuss is about visit TechDirt to be enlightened – it is a great read that we look forward to daily. At Innovation Toronto we don’t “do” endorsements but we also can’t ignore important things that come along . . .
We always hear from people that certain types of digital content can’t come up with scarce “reasons to buy,” and yet we always seem to hear of new and creative ways that it’s being done anyway. Back in December we wrote about how the TV sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia had turned ridiculous on-air products into the real thing and they were selling quite well. Now, PrometheeFeu points out that the popular ABC TV show Castle has come out with a real book supposedly by the lead character in the show, who (in the TV show) is a professional writer. Not only that, but the book itself has hit the NY Times best seller list. Now, it’s not entirely clear who wrote the book (when asked, the producers of the show insist that it was the character in the program), but the book has gotten decent reviews and ABC is pitching the book on its website (including free chapter downloads). One assumes that ABC likely gets a cut of the sales as well. It’s yet another neat attempt to combine an infinite good with a scarce one to make that scarce one more valuable. I would imagine that the book wouldn’t sell nearly as well if it hadn’t been tied to such a TV program.
