Copyright and Fashion

Apreche

Copyright and intellectual property has been the #1 Internet geek topic of discussion for over a decade. It is the one issue which pervades every single geekery, and has huge consequences for all of them. Technology, anime, comics, games, books, IP is at the top of the list for everybody. In being such an important topic, we've pretty much heard it all. For years there hasn't really been anything anyone has said that we haven't heard before.

Until this TED Talk.
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Now, not everything she's saying is new. In fact, only a little bit of it is new. At least new to me. The one most important thing in the whole talk is the graph she displays at 12:23. Crushed!

Victor Frost

Yeah, I saw the same video in my weekly email from TED. I've yet to watch it though.

NerdcoreWannabe

Just watched it. I dunno about that graph. Seriously? The logic is sound but this is a TED talk, so it would be shocking if it wasn't.

Apreche

I dunno about that graph. Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

MrRoboto

I'll just say that most of the things on the left of the chart don't require millions of dollars spent on development, you can't compare the amount of investment that requires developing a frock than that of a new type of media player, TV, medicine, movie, game, etc.

Rym

you can't compare the amount of investment that requires developing a frock than that of a new type of media player, TV, medicine, movie, game, etc.

One point is that these sorts of things cost so much partly because of patent avoidance (when other people have patents that cover a basic process) and duplicated effort. If IBM has a patent on some process for scanning images, and it's generic enough to cover most possible implementations of something similar, HP has to spend a great deal of time and money designing an alternate process that is analogous to IBM's before they can even begin to think about incremental progress. This huge barrier to entry is a disincentive to IBM to itself make such incremental progress.

Wyatt

What about the food industry? I think food and fashion are similar in this aspect. I don't believe it's possible to patent a recipe either. Nabisco doesn't "own" cookies. Colonel Sanders couldn't patent his 11 herbs and spices. He had to keep them secret.

Philly has a bunch of cheese steaks shops all claiming to be the first. Buffalo wings where born in the Anchor Bar, but that place sucks. I could make a restaurant that served up garbage plates, and Nick Tahou Hots' wouldn't see a dime.

Omnutia

I'll just say that most of the things on the left of the chart don't require millions of dollars spent on development

I add that this problem is cyclical. We make games from the ground up because we've become habituated to code being copyrighted and, with the conceal by compilation issue, it's really hard to modify existing games if the creator doesn't want you to. We make games that are so big and expensive because we always have, though that's beginning to change.