First Sale Doctrine Goes to the Supreme Court

When I started Openspace Store I had a grand vision to change the Terms Of Use (TOU) document that is part of the sales process for all app stores. The First Use Doctrine effects the first sale of any app/song/video/book and our modifications to the TOU made it very clear that the copyright holder was supporting the resale/gifting/lending of their copyrighted material. For those of you not up your copyright law, the first-sale doctrine is the rule adopted by the Supreme Court, in 1908, and basically says that once a copyright holder sells a copy of his work, the buyer is free to resell that copy (or rent it or give it away) as he sees fit. This doctrine is being tested YET again today by the Supreme Court. As you can imagine the copyright holders are on one side Vs. the marketplaces that profit from the current doctrine on the other. Marketplaces include players like: eBay, GameStop and Goodwill, but it also includes libraries.

We modified our Terms of Use Document to avoid and explicitly grant appropriate permission. This way a level of transparency between the copyright holder and the purchaser was clearly identified, prior to first purchase. Below are the sections of the TOU that reflect these rights. I would suggest looking closely at section 5.2 sales.

5.1           Purchases. 

• (a)            If You are a Registered User, You will be provided with the opportunity to make purchases of licenses and other rights to access and use Software, Content and other Products through the online marketplace operated by OpenSpace through the Service (“Purchases”).  In addition to this Agreement, each Purchase will be subject to any additional terms or conditions applicable to the Purchase provided or displayed in connection with the Purchase (“Additional Terms”).  All Purchases are final and are not subject to exchanged or refund.
• (b)            Unless otherwise expressly stated in any Additional Terms that You may enter into (or may have entered into) with OpenSpace or its Affiliates applicable to a Purchase, all Purchases of Software, Content or other Products through the Service provide You with a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable (except as set forth herein) license to the Purchased Software, Content or other Product solely use in accordance with the following conditions:

1.  You may download a single copy of the Software, Content or other Product from the Site.
2. You may install and use the Software, Content or other Product on an unlimited number of OpenSpace-authorized devices owned by You.
3. You may use the Software, Content or other Product solely for Your own personal, noncommercial purposes.
4. You may not transfer, sell or otherwise convey the Software, Content or other Product (or any rights therein) except as expressly set forth in this Agreement.
5. You will otherwise use the Software, Content or other Product only in accordance with this Agreement and any Additional Terms.
6. Your license to the Software, Content or other Product will terminate immediately upon any breach by You of the terms of this Agreement.

• Unless expressly stated in any Additional Terms applicable to a Purchase, You are granted no licenses or other rights, whether by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, in or to any Software, Content or other Product or any Intellectual Property Rights (as defined below) therein or related thereto other than as expressly set forth in this Section.  You will not and will not allow any third party to, modify, copy or reproduce, perform, display, modify, create derivative works from, decompile, reverse-engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, republish, post, transmit, sell distribute, sublicense, or in any way exploit any Software, Content or other Product (or any portion thereof).  Upgrades or updates (if any) to any Software, Content or other Products will be governed by the terms of this Agreement, unless accompanied by any Additional Terms.

5.2           Sales. 

• (a)            If You are a Registered User, You will also be provided with the opportunity to conduct sales or transfers of the licenses or other rights to access and use the Software, Content or other Products you have Purchased through the online marketplace operated by OpenSpace through the Service (“Sales”).  In addition to this Agreement, each Sale will be subject to any applicable Additional Terms.  All Sales are final and are not subject to exchange or refund.
• (b)            Unless otherwise expressly stated in any Additional Terms that You may enter into (or may have entered into) with OpenSpace or its Affiliates applicable to a Sale, all Sales of any Software, Content or other Products must be conducted in accordance with the following conditions:

1. All Sales of any Software, Content or other Product must be conducted solely through the Service.
2. No Software, Content or other Product may be sold, transferred, distributed or otherwise conveyed through any means other than the Service.
3. Upon any Sale You may not make any further use of the Software, Content or other Product subject to the Sale.
4. Upon any Sale You will delete all copies of the Software, Content or other Product subject to the Sale made by You or otherwise in your possession or control.

• Following any Sale You will retain no right, license or other interest in or to the Software, Content or other Product subject to the Sale or any Intellectual Property Rights therein or related thereto.

6.              OWNERSHIP.  All Software, Content and other Products available or accessible through the Site or Service are protected by the intellectual property rights of OpenSpace and its partners, affiliates, and licensors (“Affiliates”), including, as applicable and without limitation, copyrights, trademarks, patents (and patent applications), trade secrets and other proprietary and intellectual property rights (“Intellectual Property Rights”).  All Software, Content and other Products are licensed, not sold, to You under the terms of this Agreement.  As between You and OpenSpace, all Software, Content and Products, and all Intellectual Property Rights therein and related thereto, are and will remain the sole property of OpenSpace and its Affiliates.  Use of any Software, Content or other Products other than under the express terms of the licenses granted under this Agreement will result in an infringement or misappropriation of the Intellectual Property Rights in the Software, Content or other Products.  OpenSpace reserves (on behalf of itself and its Affiliates) all rights not expressly granted to You under this Agreement.

7.              FEES AND PAYMENT.  You agree to pay all fees applicable to each Purchase as specified on the Site or through the Service in connection with that Purchase (“Fees”).  All Fees will be due and payable at the time of Purchase.  You grant OpenSpace (or a company chosen to act on behalf of OpenSpace) authority to charge or debit the credit card, debit card, bank account, online payment account, mobile payment account, or other payment method You provide in connection with Your Account or any Purchase for any Purchase You make on the Site or through the Service.  All Fees will be non-refundable once paid to OpenSpace (including upon any termination or suspension of this Agreement).  Purchases and Sales may be subject to additional fees or charges stated on the Site which are also non-refundable and You agree to pay all fees or charges incurred by You in connection with any Purchase or Sale.  Until paid in full, all past due amounts will bear an additional charge of the lesser of 1½% per month or the maximum amount permitted under applicable law.  OpenSpace may change any portion of the Fees by posting the changes to the Site or otherwise notifying You through the Service.  Such changes will take effect as to any Purchase occurring after such notice by OpenSpace.  If OpenSpace requires use of collection agencies, attorneys, or courts of law for collection on Your account, You will be responsible for those expenses. You will be responsible for all use, sales, and other taxes imposed on the Service provided under this Agreement.

If you’re interested in reviewing the remainder of the Terms Of Use document send me a note and I will happily share it.

Are you really a startup?

I’ve always struggled trying to describe when a startup is no longer a startup and I personally like Steve Blank‘s, author of the Startup Owners Manual, definition.

Steve also suggests their are two stages to building a company, Search and Execution but i believe the startup to company transition actually happens over 3 stages.  This additional stage happens after search and just before execution. The time period when you are just starting to execute, raise money and hire as opposed to actually having enough money and the momentum behind your repeatable, scalable, business model to fund operations and growth. I add this level of clarification primarily because in my experience they are operationally different and can also be mapped to employee risk and company structure.

The law of diffusion of innovation is a great way to view the lifecycle of a company and to determine where you as an individual are probably going to find the most happiness and satisfaction on the job.

If you are startup junkie you love the innovator through early adopters stage, and if you’re into minimal structure type you will enjoy when a company reaches its tipping point through the end of the early majority and last if you really enjoy all of the processes and procedures being in place the late majority through laggard stage is probably the best type of company for you.

Knowing the level of risk and structure in a company will help make everyone in the process happier. The tension on the edges is where CEO’s get replaced,  employees turn into jerks and where most people are miserable and complain.

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Two other thoughts:

1. A later stage company can experience all three stages during periods of innovation. This is important because its the place large companies can get employees excited. Organizations like Google use the 20% of your time concept to keep people passionate.
2. Some people can move up and down the entire stack Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and  of course <your name here>
3. If you are thinking about starting a high tech business you should read the Startup Owners Manual, review the course online or take my graduate level class at University of Colorado.

Endorsement’s – The New Like for Skills?

Endorsements are a light weight method of aligning your social capital with a colleagues specific skills. Below is my current snapshot.

What I am finding interesting is the perception vs reality. I primarily think of my self as an entrepreneur/innovator who has specific skills around UX, UI and business process, and the world so far has aligned itself with the entrepreneur/innovator. This is good, I think, but it clearly shows I am missing the mark on educating people on my other skills. I have since added a few portfolio pieces via an app from Behance. I wonder if it will change the perception or if my reality is off.

Offering a simpler way to align ones social capital feels right, but i wonder how it effects us in 10 years. The attention economy needs to be revisited, now that we have all of these subtle signals: likes, endorsements, thumbs up. The bigger social question, if we take a step back, is how will the like/endorsement change our society. The simple answer is personalization. Whats the real answer?

Integrated turn-by-turn directions or more features – duh

The latest version of the IOS has dropped Google maps in favor of an Apple proprietary maps app. Their is an awesome lesson in here for startups and consumers. Leveraging a closed platform limits choice.

With that said, I have been using iOS6 for a few months and the integration of turn-by-turn directions is so much better then the previous Google maps integration that i do not believe they should even be compared.

• I am not suggesting that Apple is the first mobile OS to offer this feature, their solution is better than other turn-by-turn apps or  that the current implementation choice was the best one for the community.

I am simply saying as a consumer, and someone who is direction challenged, having turn-by-turn directions integrated directly into the OS is f”ing awesome and the way it should  have been since the beginning.

Hello…Hello…I’ll call you back once Verizon goes iPhone

New Tech Boulder predicts 54% of the existing iPhone users will switch from AT&T to Verizon. What’s the math and is it time to buy Verizon, Apple or short AT&T stock?

• According to comScore 23% of the iPhones sold as of November 2010 were for the US Market.
• The same article reports about 75 million iPhones have been sold to date.

If the New Tech survey is accurate and 54% of the people switch thats 9,315,000 new Verizon customers.

• If these number are correct and using my AT&T  bill as an average $150 a month, This will increase Verizon monthly billings by $2,587,500,000.
• Increasing Verizon’s annual revenue by $31,050,000,000.

Holy sh!t these numbers seem crazy.

I don’t think the current Verizon stock reflects these types of increases, but remember buying and selling stock is an adult responsibility and I’m not an investment advisor.

• AT&T stock price 28.85 / market cap 170 bilion
• Verizon Stock price 35.93 / market cap 101 billion
• Apple Stock price 336.12 / market cap 303 billion

A few other stats you might find interesting:

• 26% have already switched to Android
• 5% have switch to Windows 7
• 4% use a blackberry

Linkedin vs Facebook

Has the business world given up on Linkedin?

Two years ago, I would have exclusvily said Facebook is for friends and Linkedin in is for business, not anymore. I am starting to get more business requests on Facebook than LinkedIn. Trend or anomaly?

transparency

in 1996 I started writing a book, “Information is the user interface”. I never finished it, but the theme is more alive today today than it was 1996.

A new trend that is starting to emerge with  business communication is transparency. Ad agencies are getting into the action, look at the CPB campaign for Domino’s and startups are doing it as well.

Last night at New Tech Boulder a local company, Sparkfun, shared their business strategy and growth from bedroom to a 50 thousand square foot facility and last week Backflip studio’s CEO shared his personal and corporate story with a group of students I teach at BDW.

Thanks for sharing.

Apple releases IOS4 for the iPad months ahead of schedule

Apple elegantly moves the topic of conversation by releasing IOS4.0.1 and then telling everyone it also works on the iPad. I am not sure how anyone ever used the original iPad OS.

What, did you say something about an iPhone problem thats so yesterday?