July 26, 2004
Volume 5, Issue 7
Welcome Alston & Bird
Please warmly welcome Alston & Bird, LLP to the Platform Group. We look forward to providing valuable services to this newest DCIA Member and supporting its contributions to commercial development of the distributed computing industry.
Founded in 1893, Alston & Bird is a major US law firm with an international practice in areas ranging from antitrust and investigations, to capital markets and investments, to entertainment and new media, to Internet and e-business, to technology and telecommunications. One of the key areas of interest to DCIA Members is its extensive intellectual property practice.
We are very grateful to Aydin Caginalp , Managing Partner of its NY office, for hosting our P2P Revenue Engine ( P2PRE ) all-hands meeting last week.
Alston & Bird has ranked in the top five among the largest law firms for each of the last four years - the only firm to be in the top five more than once during this period. The firm has more than 700 attorneys in five markets, including Washington , DC , representing world class companies.
Its attorneys include Senator Bob Dole, former Chief of SEC's Office of Mergers and Acquisitions Dennis Garris, numerous former examiners from the US Patent and Trademark office, and more than 130 attorneys practicing IP law 100% of the time.
In 2003, AmLaw Tech ranked Alston & Bird first in the quality, use, and deployment of technology on behalf of its clients. The firm ranked second in Fortune's 2004 100 best companies to work for, the only law firm ever named to the top five. The American Lawyer named Alston & Bird to "IP America's Dream Team."
Alston & Bird has 85 attorneys registered to practice before the US Patent & Trademark Office, and a track record of 80+ years of continuous practice specializing in IP law. It regularly files over 1,000 US patent applications per year and over 600 internationally.
Representative patent clients include American Express, BellSouth, Boeing, Honeywell, Morgan Stanley, Sunoco, and UPS. Trademark clients include Bank of America, Reebok, and NASCAR.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 I'd like especially to commend Les Ottolenghi , president of INTENT MediaWorks and leader of the P2P Revenue Engine (P2PRE) project, and Paul Angles, Sovereign Artists' visionary Internet marketing strategist for their accomplishments last week.
Les did a tremendous job integrating the very high-quality contributions of participating DCIA Members Clickshare Service, Digital Containers, P2P Cash, Relatable, and Shared Media Licensing, along with those of a select number of other invited participants, whose collective expertise and prestige augur well for this endeavor. Les' leadership and communications skills made these working sessions highly productive and a real pleasure.
Paul did what opponents of our industry would like you to believe is impossible: release a new album from a mega musical talent simultaneously in CD and P2P retail distribution channels. Contracting with Shared Media Licensing to use its Weed format for secure file sharing, Paul's groundbreaking effort paid off last week as P2P sales surpassed those of iTunes. Paul's future as an innovative marketing leader is very promising.
The album is the critically acclaimed "Jupiters Darling" from HEART, who began their 48 US-city tour in Washington last Thursday. More P2P software suppliers are now joining the promotion, thanks to Paul's spadework, to further drive sales in what will be remembered as a truly history-making effort.
The P2PRE project has been compared to changing an engine on a jet-plane in mid-flight during a meteor shower and barrage of anti-aircraft fire. The latter images represent the ceaseless litigation and legislative upheaval that challenge key players in staying focused on commercial solutions. P2PRE participation is not for the faint of heart.
Last week's assemblage of P2PRE parts, some of which have been in development for three years and longer, brought to the forefront a number of important issues that deserve industry-wide consideration and, speaking for Les and the entire team, we welcome your input.
First are basic principles of mutual respect for all stakeholders. Consumers should expect that their privacy will not be violated by any solutions. Both content rights-holders and P2P software providers should expect that their participation can remain voluntary, and that they will retain control over their respective businesses in implementing acceptable solutions. Do you agree with these and what other principles would you add?
Second are performance criteria of viable solutions. Rights holders must be able to require that their registered content consistently perform according to usage rules that they stipulate for its redistribution, including compensation. File-sharing program suppliers must be able to require that their software performance be preserved and protected, and that current user experience and traffic levels be enhanced rather than impaired. What else do you view as absolute requirements?
And third are indemnification issues. Implementation participants will be embarking on a difficult enough assignment without having to constantly look over their shoulders. This is an area that has been characterized by massive amounts of mistrust and an absence of good faith. What can you suggest to provide a safe harbor for P2PRE execution?
The DCIA's role here, with project leadership as well as overall goals, roles, and processes now established, is like that of devil's advocate. We must force a brutally honest risk assessment and push for the P2PRE team to exceed its expectations. In the coming weeks as the team finalizes details of its proposal, P2PRE team members are asking of themselves, and will ask of those they seek to engage in testing and implementing P2PRE , what are your real objectives and core values?
For a trade association with a large vested interest in the outcome, we are very impressed with the caliber of the entire P2PRE team, each of whom seem more than qualified for this challenging assignment.
Senate Judiciary Hearing on IICA
Techies Blast Induce Act
A music industry "encouraged" hearing was held Thursday on the widely-opposed "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act" S. 2560. Although floor remarks, introductory statements, and an all-Senator RIAA letter in advance of the hearing exclaimed that the sole purpose of this bill is to promote lawsuits against P2P software providers, no P2P industry representation was allowed.
This apparent attempt to stage a hearing that would wrongly imply support for what is a seriously misguided measure backfired, with four-out-of-five private sector panelists, including the BSA, CEA, IEEE, and NetCoalition, speaking out against it.
During the hearing, Chairman Hatch displayed a poster falsely attributing an inflammatory remark to DCIA Member Sharman Networks' CEO Nikki Hemming - "intending to induce" a negative impression of Sharman - which in fact has worked tirelessly to combat copyright infringement as well as continually improve the quality and value of its software user experience since acquiring Kazaa. Legal counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee has been contacted to correct the hearing record.
BSA witness Robert Holleyman admonished that any new law must not encumber legitimate innovation. Technology that can have substantial non-infringing uses should not be liable. An actor would have to engage in conscious, recurring, persistent, and deliberate acts to cause another person to commit infringement. Mere knowledge of potentially infringing acts would not demonstrate intent. No liability should be created based on advertising or customer support. A mechanism would have to be included to deter weak, harassing, or frivolous lawsuits.
The CEA's Gary Shapiro questioned whether any bill was needed now, citing recent surveys which show that P2P has not been a significant cause of music industry sales losses; IEEE's Andrew Greenberg noted that there would be no "silver bullet;" and NetCoalition's Kevin McGuiness added that the ultimate solution would require far more than new legislation. Nonetheless, the Chairman said he intends to move forward on S. 2560 regardless of whether consensus is achieved.
CNET Networks, eBay, Google, Intel, MCI, Sun Microsystems, TiVo, Verizon, and Yahoo, among many others, including the DCIA, have written the Senate expressing their opposition to S. 2560, which would chill innovation, drive technology investment out of the US, and ultimately not benefit its entertainment industry proponents.
While the DCIA stands ready to work with the Judiciary Committee, as we have consistently offered, to develop and support reasonable alternatives, we strongly urge you to click HERE and let your Senator know you want this very dangerous legislation stopped now.
DCIA Summer Meeting and P2PRE
Please register now at info@dcia.info for the DCIA Summer 2004 Quarterly General Meeting, taking place in Los Angeles, CA Tuesday morning, August 10th, coinciding with the iHollywood Gamemaker Summit. This meeting will be limited to DCIA Members only. Feel free to call DCIA Member Services leader, Karen Kaplowitz, at 888-890-4240 for Membership information.
The DCIA Summer Meeting will be held from 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM PT at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, Universal City. Breakfast will be served. The planned agenda will feature a detailed discussion of the P2P Revenue Engine (P2PRE ), including an overview; six-phase proof-of-concept, market-trial and implementation plan; business processes; and risk analysis.
Before and after the meeting, on August 9th and 10th, plan to attend the iHollywood Gamemaker Summit, which will focus on the most vibrant and rapidly growing entertainment sector for P2P distribution - videogames and online gaming - in 2004 and beyond. Meet the most respected industry names offering practical advice on development and implementation of gaming industry strategies. Discover how to make money from gaming development and publishing with gaming industry innovators, creating new market opportunities with demonstrated growth potential.
Gabe Zichermann, VP of Strategy and Communications at DCIA Member Trymedia Systems, will be a featured speaker.
Network with industry executives representing game publishers and developers, interactive gaming, P2P software providers, developer tools, multimedia, console makers, billing services, distributors, and aggregators, as well as network infrastructure, chipmakers, investors, content creators, music, film, storage providers, TV, video, broadband, and technology firms.
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