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The Induce Act, if it becomes law, would make the providers of digital services wary of developing any product that might generate lawsuits from the recording industry, which has shown it can be aggressive in pursuing copyright infringement cases in the courts, adds Hunter. "Innovation may be bad for the content industry, but it's almost certainly good for consumers. The stance of the industry is just to sue absolutely everybody to death. This will have a chilling effect."
Fader suggests that the content industry has turned to the courts and now Congress to protect a business model that is changing as a result of new technology. "Imagine if the horse-and-buggy manufacturers had legal loopholes to prevent the development of the automobile. They would use it, but would society be better off?"
The recording industry might engender more sympathy if it had made a better effort to incorporate some form of digital distribution in its business model, he adds. "It has never even run an experiment. It wants to have legislators come in to help it avoid the need to ever do so."
A think piece from a Wharton professor that should be required reading by anyone at a label.
Posted by Casper at October 27, 2004 09:52 AM