Cannonballs and footballs – a judicial comparison

What place is there for common-law tort in the context of statutory IP rights? Future Investments SA v FIFA, decided in the High Court last week, takes a look at the interplay between copyright and the common-law tort of causing loss by unlawful means.

Under a licence from FIFA, IMG Media produced FIFA FEVER, a DVD celebrating FIFA’s 2004 centennial. Future Investments protested, saying home video rights in the ’98 World Cup were theirs. Future, however, didn’t sue FIFA for authorizing copyright infringement, for reasons the judgment does not explore. Instead the action is for causing loss by unlawful means. This tort, clarified by Lord Hoffman in Douglas v Hello!, consists of ‘(a) a wrongful interference with the actions of a third party in which the claimant has an economic interest and (b) an intention thereby to cause loss to the claimant’. The claimants argued that IMG’s freedom to enter into contractual relations with Future was unlawfully interfered with when FIFA warranted to IMG that they held the rights. Floyd J said:

‘I think the most that can be said, on the basis of Future’s pleaded case, is that IMG was somehow discouraged from approaching Future for a licence. At one level this might be thought to be analogous to the cases of causing loss by unlawful means based on intimidation of customers, of which Tarleton v McGawley (1794) Peake 270 provides a colourful example. In that case the master of a ship used cannons to prevent a potential customer from approaching a rival ship. IMG was a potential customer of Future for a licence to WC98 footage, but was turned away by FIFA’s authoritative and (so say Future) wrongful assertion of the right to grant a licence itself. It seems to me, however, that there is a fundamental and decisive difference between keeping your rivals away from your competitor’s goods and keeping them away from your competitor’s intellectual property rights. In the former case the customer has, and should have a free choice as to where to purchase goods, and that choice is being interfered with by the activity of the tortfeasor in scaring them away. But in the case of an intellectual property right, there is no question of any choice. One either needs a licence or one does not.’

The tort’s 400-year case law does offer closer matches, however. Unlawful interference does not have to take the form of a threat. It can be deception. There might only be one person that can own an exclusive IP right but there is no limit to the number of people who can say they own it.

The potential economic threat to local TV news

This is the second of two posts adapted from testimony I am scheduled to present at a Media Ownership Workshop being conducted today by the Federal Communications Commission at Stanford University. The first post is here.Once traditional television programming is married with a robust Internet feed to the family entertainment center, there is every reason to believe most modern consumers will

You’re Not Throwing Out That Cell Phone, Are You?

You’re not really going to throw out that cell phone, are you? In THIS economy? That’s just nuts. Yeah, the contract is expired and you can’t make calls any more. But that’s a wad of bills in your hand there. You wouldn’t throw a handful of cash in the garbage would you? Well, then, don’t toss that moola just because it still looks like a cell phone.

Every year, millions of dollars are hauled off by trash trucks just because people don’t realize that their old cell phones and other electronic gadgets have cash value. Those who suspect that their phone might still be worth something are put off by the thought of having to run a classified ad and deal with people coming to the door, or having to take pictures and write up an auction listing. It seems like too much work for too little money, and it often is. But what if you could drop your old mobile into a prepaid mailer and just send it on its way? It that still too much like work?

The other thing you need to know is that some cell phones, especially smartphones, can be worth a pretty penny. How would you like to open your mailbox and find a check for $100 or more? It could happen. Not all cell phones are worth premium prices, but even if you only get $5, $10 or $20, that’s still a nice chunk of change for a few minutes effort.

Interested? I thought so. Here’s what you do for the next 5 minutes. Check the value of your old cell phone by running a quick search at an online recycler. You’ll get an excellent idea of what it’s really worth by finding the exact make and model, selecting the condition and what accessories you still have available, and clicking the “calculate” button. You’ll find out instantly what they’ll pay you. If you like the answer, request a prepaid mailing box. When it comes, you pack up your phone and accessories, seal the box and drop it in the mail. Away it goes. Once the condition of your phone has been verified, you’ll get a check by return mail quicker than you think.

If it got any easier, that phone would turn itself in for the bounty. What? You got your phone free because you bought it online? Keep that to yourself. You can still get cash for your old cell phone even if you never paid any in the first place. Just look it up and send it in.

While you are at it, check and see if you might have other electronic gadgets that still have cash value. These include video games and gaming consoles, GPS devices, MP3 players, digital cameras and camera lenses, camcorders, Blu-ray players, home audio, projectors, streaming media, external disk drives, PDA laptop and desktop computers, satellite radios, calculators and even movies. That’s a lot of categories. I’ll bet you have some of this stuff hiding in drawers or the basement right now. Wouldn’t you rather have the money before the value of these items drains away completely?

I suspect that once you discover the hidden value of your old electronics, you’ll go on a de-junking spree to get the most money you can. As a side benefit, you’ll have lots of extra space available for your next acquisitions.

On your marks, get set ...

Not a moment too soon, yesterday the OFT gave the green light to Project Canvas, the BBC-led joint venture to create internet-connected television (ipTV news reports). It looks like they won't be short of competition after all as today Google announced its own internet TV system. As the battle lines are drawn between these two rather different monopolies, copyright looks on impartially, wondering whether the integration of conventional TV with internet content could work in favour of the legitimate stuff (as Wired suggests here) or against it.

How local TV could go the way of newspapers

This is the first of two posts adapted from testimony I am scheduled to present at a Media Ownership Workshop being conducted Friday by the Federal Communications Commission at Stanford University.The tipping point is not yet at hand, but the economics of local broadcasting may begin to unravel as dramatically – and irretrievably – in the next five years as they did for newspapers in the

Add International Calling To Your Cell Phone

The reality of telephone conversations today is that at least one of the phones is a mobile. Yet, many US cell phone plans limit you to domestic USA calls. Those that let you call out of the country can make you sorry you did when the bill arrives. Doesn’t anyone offer a way to call Mexico, Europe, China or even Canada at a decent rate?

There is such a deal and you’ll love it. What you need is a special add-on plan to the service you have now. There is no need and, frankly, no advantage to switching carriers mid-plan. Instead, you keep your current US calling plan and add an international calling service to it. It’s fast, it’s easy and, best of all, it’s cheap.

The service I’m talking about is TEL3Advantage
. What kind of rates are we talking about? Right now, TEL3Advantage is offering discounted international rates that include calls to China for 1 cent per minute, Berlin Germany for 1.4 cents per minute and calls to Canada for 0.9 cents per minute. You saw that right. You can call numbers in Canada for less than a penny a minute. I’ll bet you can’t do that on your landline!

Actually, now you can. The same TEL3Advantage account that works on your cell phone also works on your home phone or your office phone. You can use it on any private touch-tone phone.

OK, now back to those incredibly low rates. They’re for real as part of a special 30 day discount. After that they go up to the regular rates that aren’t much higher. China, for instance, is 1.32 cents per minute instead of an even 1 cent. Calls to Canada cost 1.6 cents per minute. Calls to Berlin Germany are 2 cents per minute for the regular rate. Bet you still can’t beat these rates on your regular landline service. Calls to other locations worldwide are also available at eye-popping low rates.

So how does this work? You sign up for TEL3Advantage with a valid credit card or PayPal account. You order a package of minutes for $10, $25, $50 or $100. What you are doing is pre-paying for your international calls. There’s an extra bonus involved. You get extra free minutes with all but the $10 package. How about 900 free minutes to China on sign-up with the $100 plan. Astounding, but true.

Now you are ready to place your call. Simply dial the local access number for the TEL3Advantage service on any phone you have registered. When the service answers, you dial the international number you want to call. Your call goes through just like on any other phone and you enjoy a nice long conversation. At these rates, it can really be a long conversation. When you run low on minutes, the system will recharge you so won’t be left hanging without service like happens on those prepaid calling cards.

Do you have a smartphone? Your life gets even easier when you download a TEL3 app. It is smart enough to know all the local access numbers, so you can just place your international call with no fuss whatsoever.

Thousands of satisfied customers love this service, and why wouldn’t they? There are no monthly fees or taxes, no contracts, no expiration and no obligation. Just fast and easy access combined with extraordinarily low calling rates. Does this sound like a service that will work for you? If so, learn more, take advantage of the introductory specials, note the 30 day satisfaction guarantee and order your TEL3Advantage service now.

Qwest Embraces Ethernet over Copper to Reach Rural Business Locations

Qwest Communications is one of the country’s premier telecom services providers, with a fiber optic backbone that spans the nation with data transmission rates of 40 Gbps. Their next step up will be 100 Gbps. When major enterprises need serious bandwidth, they find that Qwest has all they need and then some. But what about those locations that are a bit off the beaten path? Are they pretty much out of luck or what?

Not any more they aren’t. While it’s true that remote offices of even the largest corporations have a hard time justifying the construction costs involved in trenching fiber cable so far away from the carrier POPs (Points of Presence), that doesn’t mean they can’t get significant bandwidth at decent prices.

The magic that makes it possible for even out of the way locations to get Ethernet services at Ethernet speeds is called Ethernet over Copper. The copper we’re talking about is standard twisted pair telephone cable. Not only that, it is the same telco cable that is already in the ground. Nearly every business location gets multiple pair cabling installed by the local telephone company during construction. It’s traditionally used for multi-line telephone service and, more recently, to bring in DSL and T1 broadband Internet access. The new way to employ the same old wires is to install specialized equipment to transport Ethernet signals over copper.

Qwest has just announced new Ethernet services for nationwide availability. These include 3 Mbps, 5 Mbps, 7 Mbps and 10 Mbps, all delivered over bonded copper pair. The bonding process is a software solution that combines what are normally separate signals on independent copper wire pairs so that they act as one much higher speed conduit. That process was originally employed by carriers to bond T1 lines to increase bandwidth beyond the 1.5 Mbps T1 limit. With different terminal equipment, those copper pair can now deliver Ethernet services as well. You need up to 8 pair to get the maximum 10 Mbps speed level.

Most smaller businesses and branch offices of medium and larger size businesses can run just fine with 10 Mbps bandwidth for last mile connectivity to MPLS networks, dedicated Internet connections, or Ethernet Virtual LAN service. Since the copper is already in place, construction costs are minimized and service can be deployed rapidly. They are also scalable. You can start off with 3 Mbps bandwidth, if that is all you need, and then scale up to 5, 7 or 10 Mbps as your business level requires.

Is your office, plant site or warehouse struggling with too limited bandwidth because you think that a speed increase is prohibitively expensive? You may be surprised and delighted by how much bandwidth you can get for the same budget you have now. The way to find out quickly is to check prices and availability for Ethernet over Copper service in your area right now.