Paul Goldstein is the Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford University. He is a renowned expert on intellectual property law and the author of numerous books on U.S. and international copyright law. This semester we read selections from Professor Goldstein’s book Copyright’s Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox. Paul was gracious enough to answer some of our students’ questions and we are happy to present his responses here.
Copygrounds: It seems that contemporary services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Gamefly, Pandora, etc. closely resemble your concept of the celestial jukebox. Would that be your assessment as well? Which do you think is the most advantageous payment structure? Advertisement-supported, pay per view, or flat rate pricing?
Paul Goldstein: Although, obviously, I had no specific service in mind when I started writing about the celestial jukebox in the 1980s, the services you identify certainly fit the general outlines that I sketched. I find it interesting that the payment structures you mention all appear to involve streaming, rather than downloading. Although streaming seems to be the currently popular business model, I wouldn’t write off downloads of the iTunes variety, at least in certain sectors. And, as to payment models, my best guess is that we will continue to seea mix of the three you identify, and possibly more. In any event, the market’s wisdom on what is the best payment method for different kinds of uses is a heck of a lot smarter than mine. continue reading…
