Month: July 2006

eBay Bans Google Checkout

EBay just changed its policy to exclude Google Checkout from its accepted payment options, keeping PayPal in clearer pastures. eBay Strategies, lists the ins and outs: "In reality it's a credit card gateway (and the same one eBay spends millions with as the top google AdWords user) and credit…

EBay just changed its policy to exclude Google Checkout from its accepted payment options, keeping PayPal in clearer pastures. eBay Strategies, lists the ins and outs: “In reality it’s a credit card gateway (and the same one eBay spends millions with as the top google AdWords user) and credit cards are specifically allowed along with gateways (verisign/cybersource/authorize.net, etc.)”

Definitely a hamper on that big IF of Checkout’s success that Om talks about, on the potential it could play in Google market development towards a pay-for-performance or cost-per-action system.

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Dear Warner: Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot – Free Bugs (Again!)!

John Kricfalusi, creator of the wonderful Ren & Stimpy series and an all around worthwhile fellow to know (and new FM author) just pinged me with the news that YouTube is disallowing his linking of old Bugs cartoons on his site. Why? Because Warner Brothers, who now owns the…

Renstimp-1Bugs

John Kricfalusi, creator of the wonderful Ren & Stimpy series and an all around worthwhile fellow to know (and new FM author) just pinged me with the news that YouTube is disallowing his linking of old Bugs cartoons on his site. Why? Because Warner Brothers, who now owns the copyrights, has no idea how powerful a marketing tool John’s blog can be, that’s why. All they want to do is prevent folks who might buy DVDs, merchandise, and view ads next to webisodes of Ren & Stimpy and Bugs from, well, buying DVDs, merchandise, and looking at webisodes of Ren & Stimpy and Bugs. Hey Warner, aren’t you paying any attention to what is happening out here in the real world? You don’t want to upset the creator of Ren & Stimpy, and force YouTube, which is providing a great service, to do the dirty work! Instead, figure out a way to work with the man! He’ll help you sell far more stuff. As he pointed out to me:

“Classic cartoons are my biggest influence. These cartoons are rarely seen on TV anymore and they could be selling them all on home video. Normally, they would have to pay a lot of money to get so much notice that I give them for free…. Mostly I put up clips, not the whole cartoon. Aren’t there “fair use” laws?



Well, yes there are, but they are in full retreat (and that’s another story). But back to this one. John is a leader in the animation world, and his site is where tens of thousands of his rabid fans and influencers in the world of animation hang out. He’s one of the biggest promoters of classic cartoons in the world…Nearly every post gets scores of comments. It’s hardly the equivalent of some teenager ripping off music. John’s posts promote and publicize Warner Brothers cartoons, if anything. In fact, John tells me he’s filmed commentaries for Looney Tunes DVDs – they come to him to help promote the same stuff they are asking him to take down. One hand, meet the other….

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It’s Hard to Sue China….

…for copyright infringement. But it's easier to sue Yahoo China, or Baidu, and anyone else who might be there and straddling the rather uncomfortable breach between Western copyright law and Chinese…well….exuberance. You go, music industry. Go go go. Sheesh….

…for copyright infringement. But it’s easier to sue Yahoo China, or Baidu, and anyone else who might be there and straddling the rather uncomfortable breach between Western copyright law and Chinese…well….exuberance. You go, music industry. Go go go. Sheesh.

6 Comments on It’s Hard to Sue China….

Now, This Reads Wrong to Me

There are always lawsuits against big targets, and initially the suit filed by KinderStart against Google, in which the parenting site/vertical search engine complained that it's ranking has been intentionally lowered, felt like a nuisance and nothing more. But sometimes interesting things come out of these complaints. I was…

Kstart

There are always lawsuits against big targets, and initially the suit filed by KinderStart against Google, in which the parenting site/vertical search engine complained that it’s ranking has been intentionally lowered, felt like a nuisance and nothing more. But sometimes interesting things come out of these complaints.

I was reading last Friday’s Cnet coverage, for instance, and a Google lawyer was explaining Google’s ranking. OK, well, I know enough about that to notice when things are being spun, and the spin was clearly on. Because it suited the defense, the lawyer decided to argue that Google’s index was subjective – ie, that Google made editorial decisions about each site’s quality.

Now, that strikes me as a bit askew from public perception, and from what Google encourages us to think, in general, about how it ranks. Here’s how Cnet covered it:

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NYT on Google Infrastructure

Another Times piece on the Google phenomenon, with some interesting facts. Paul rounds them up. The focus of the piece is on how Google has made infrastructure a core competence, to the point of designing and building servers and related software. This is not news to readers of Searchblog,…

Another Times piece on the Google phenomenon, with some interesting facts. Paul rounds them up.

The focus of the piece is on how Google has made infrastructure a core competence, to the point of designing and building servers and related software. This is not news to readers of Searchblog, but there are interesting contours to the story, including a response from Yahoo:

“At some point you have to ask yourself what is your core business,” said Kevin Timmons, Yahoo’s vice president for operations. “Are you going to design your own router, or are you going to build the world’s most popular Web site? It is very difficult to do both.”

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SearchBlog Terms of Service, Privacy Policy

Following Asha's lead, I'm finally posting this. I've backdated this post so it does not interfere with the flow of items on the site, and will post a link to this on the home page and every archive page. Thanks to Melanie for helping me get this done. Terms…

Following Asha’s lead, I’m finally posting this. I’ve backdated this post so it does not interfere with the flow of items on the site, and will post a link to this on the home page and every archive page.

Thanks to Melanie for helping me get this done.

Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

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LeFetz On YouTube

I love this guy's passion. If you aren't reading Bob LeFetz, you should be…Here's his take on YouTube. Comparing YouTube to Napster, he says: And what happened with YouTube? The EXACT SAME THING that happened with Napster. Suddenly, digital exposition, FOR FREE, blew up underlying copyrighted material/shows. The classic…

I love this guy’s passion. If you aren’t reading Bob LeFetz, you should be…Here’s his take on YouTube. Comparing YouTube to Napster, he says:

And what happened with YouTube? The EXACT SAME THING that happened with Napster. Suddenly, digital exposition, FOR FREE, blew up underlying copyrighted material/shows. The classic case being “Lazy Sunday” from SNL. After MILLIONS of viewings on YouTube, ratings for SNL WENT UP! Sure, it was all based on copyright infringement, but if said law-breaking had not taken place, SNL wouldn’t have made all that extra MONEY! Because exposure begets revenue. The more people who know about something, the more people who are interested in buying it.

So what did NBC do?

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