IP: WHEN people can easily copy anything digital, who's going to make $100 million movies?

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "Gillmor, Dan" <DGillmor () sjmercury com>
> To: "'farber () cis upenn edu'" <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
> http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg061100.htm
>
> WHEN people can easily copy anything digital, who's going to make $100
> million movies?
>
> That question, asked by a colleague recently, is the crux of the debate over
> the growing genre of software that lets people share music around the
> Internet. The fight over Napster and its progeny is about something much
> bigger: Soon enough, technology will allow people to share any kind of
> digital information -- music, movies, software programs, you name it -- and
> it's taking a meat ax to some modern business models.
>
> It's also at the heart of a question we'll need to answer in not too many
> decades from now. When people can replicate anything, who'll go to the
> trouble or expense of designing a new passenger airplane or life-saving
> medical device?