Mark Cuban interview
Barron's Online - Wall Street Maverick -- Part II:
First off, Mark has good points on answering common questions, sort of like FAQ.
I've also included his insight on copyright.
Good stuff.
Note on posting to blogs material from other sources
If you hightlight the material you would like to quote, it automatically gets pasted when you hit "blog this" tool for blogger. (I don't know about other systems)
"Q: So let's talk about the blog. Why do you do it?
A: Why do I make my e-mail available? Of the thousand-plus e-mails I get a day, if 50 of them are relevant to my businesses, I want to answer them, because it adds value. People might tell me there was gum under their seat at a Mavericks game. They might have a good idea; someone just sent me an e-mail saying she couldn't buy women's clothes in a retail store at the game.
Q: OK, but you can post your e-mail address without blogging.
A: There have been a lot of times when I got the same question, over and over again, or I was in a situation that I knew would generate lots of questions, like when I traded Steve Nash to Portland.
I get these questions all the time: What did you do? You came from middle-class beginnings, what is it you did [to succeed]? I'm a senior looking for a job, and I haven't been able to find one. Those are the types of things I'd like to answer, but couldn't respond to individually. The blog lets me to respond to e-mail and the media, particularly the sports media.
Q: Every once in a while, you seem to blog about political subjects. Do you have any ambitions there?
A: I just don't have the temperament. I would be the guy who stands up and says: 'That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard.' I've written about some issues, like the Supreme Court case involving MGM and Grokster, where technological innovation is on the line.
Q: What's at stake?
A: You've got the music industry saying that peer-to-peer networks are bad as they exist now, with Grokster and some of the downloading systems that are out there, and that there really isn't a valid application for them.
The music industry considers itself the arbiter of what might work or what might not work. If the next generation of whatever technology comes along, and the music industry thinks it's an infringing application, they get the opportunity to drive it out of business. That's what's at stake.
It's like the Betamax case all over again: Do you have fair use to make copies at home or not? And they want to overturn the Betamax decision [which allowed consumers to tape programs for their own use].
It's not like you can look at the track record of the music and movie business and say they've always been right. The things they've tried to protect against have been the things that have made them the most money.
The entertainment industry didn't want to do VHS. And then they didn't want DVDs, because they were worried about digital copies, and their DVD revenues now exceed those from the box office. They are wrong every time.
And yet, there's a possibility, if Grokster loses to MGM, that we won't have that opportunity to innovate technologically. We saw that with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, where Lexmark sued because someone decoded their print cartridges. We saw it with garage door openers; someone sued using the DMCA for that, too. It's craziness.
The guys who run the entertainment companies don't own content. Their job is just to protect their jobs. Their job is to protect their stock options, not to protect content.
You know, the music industry doesn't represent artists. They own copyrights. Is there a good reason why copyrights should last until death, plus 75 years?
You want to own your stuff, but you don't need it for 75 years after you're dead. And so you have got these politicians who are just back-pocket boys and the irony of it all is you have got Orrin Hatch as a Republican protecting Democratic Hollywood. He's just an idiot.
Q: One final thing: You're obviously having so much fun with the Mavericks. Have you thought about investing in other sports franchises?
A: Nah. My wife would kill me."
First off, Mark has good points on answering common questions, sort of like FAQ.
I've also included his insight on copyright.
Good stuff.
Note on posting to blogs material from other sources
If you hightlight the material you would like to quote, it automatically gets pasted when you hit "blog this" tool for blogger. (I don't know about other systems)
"Q: So let's talk about the blog. Why do you do it?
A: Why do I make my e-mail available? Of the thousand-plus e-mails I get a day, if 50 of them are relevant to my businesses, I want to answer them, because it adds value. People might tell me there was gum under their seat at a Mavericks game. They might have a good idea; someone just sent me an e-mail saying she couldn't buy women's clothes in a retail store at the game.
Q: OK, but you can post your e-mail address without blogging.
A: There have been a lot of times when I got the same question, over and over again, or I was in a situation that I knew would generate lots of questions, like when I traded Steve Nash to Portland.
I get these questions all the time: What did you do? You came from middle-class beginnings, what is it you did [to succeed]? I'm a senior looking for a job, and I haven't been able to find one. Those are the types of things I'd like to answer, but couldn't respond to individually. The blog lets me to respond to e-mail and the media, particularly the sports media.
Q: Every once in a while, you seem to blog about political subjects. Do you have any ambitions there?
A: I just don't have the temperament. I would be the guy who stands up and says: 'That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard.' I've written about some issues, like the Supreme Court case involving MGM and Grokster, where technological innovation is on the line.
Q: What's at stake?
A: You've got the music industry saying that peer-to-peer networks are bad as they exist now, with Grokster and some of the downloading systems that are out there, and that there really isn't a valid application for them.
The music industry considers itself the arbiter of what might work or what might not work. If the next generation of whatever technology comes along, and the music industry thinks it's an infringing application, they get the opportunity to drive it out of business. That's what's at stake.
It's like the Betamax case all over again: Do you have fair use to make copies at home or not? And they want to overturn the Betamax decision [which allowed consumers to tape programs for their own use].
It's not like you can look at the track record of the music and movie business and say they've always been right. The things they've tried to protect against have been the things that have made them the most money.
The entertainment industry didn't want to do VHS. And then they didn't want DVDs, because they were worried about digital copies, and their DVD revenues now exceed those from the box office. They are wrong every time.
And yet, there's a possibility, if Grokster loses to MGM, that we won't have that opportunity to innovate technologically. We saw that with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, where Lexmark sued because someone decoded their print cartridges. We saw it with garage door openers; someone sued using the DMCA for that, too. It's craziness.
The guys who run the entertainment companies don't own content. Their job is just to protect their jobs. Their job is to protect their stock options, not to protect content.
You know, the music industry doesn't represent artists. They own copyrights. Is there a good reason why copyrights should last until death, plus 75 years?
You want to own your stuff, but you don't need it for 75 years after you're dead. And so you have got these politicians who are just back-pocket boys and the irony of it all is you have got Orrin Hatch as a Republican protecting Democratic Hollywood. He's just an idiot.
Q: One final thing: You're obviously having so much fun with the Mavericks. Have you thought about investing in other sports franchises?
A: Nah. My wife would kill me."
posted by JTH at 11:15 AM
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