Re:Obama Administration Announces New Anti-Piracy Initiative
by rjett on Wednesday June 23, 2010 @10:42AM
(#1455039)
"In the UK, his books sold for $6 each; in America, they sold for $0.06 (or so)"
I wonder how much this fun fact is skewed by the fact that the pound was worth way more than the cheap American paper money during the time (not to mention that a lot of states printed their own money, so it would be quite difficult to compile a relative exchange rate).
Re:Obama Administration Announces New Anti-Piracy Initiative
by steveklabnik on Wednesday June 23, 2010 @10:48AM
(#1455057)
I don't remember exactly, as I was borrowing a friend's copy, so I read it pretty quickly.
They cited all their sources, though. I'm assuming that trivial of a mistake wouldn't be made.
Don't be fooled by the shitty site, these are Cambridge professors, they just also put the book online.
It shows lots of amazing examples throughout history where the concept of IP actually hurt business, not helped. One good example: Dickens was heavily copied and sold here in America, because British copyrights didn't apply here. In the UK, his books sold for $6 each; in America, they sold for $0.06 (or so).
He made more money here.