Month: May 2009

Just in Case You are Sleeping Well

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We have an enormous crisis looming in commercial real estate, because, unlike home ownership, these loans are typically for a short period, 5 years typically, and at the end of the term, you need to refinance, and right now, the property owners are under water:

Thousands of commercial mortgages valued at hundreds of billions of dollars are approaching their renewal dates, and by some estimates, two out of three no longer will meet the original loan conditions and won’t be able to refinance. With prices for commercial properties expected to plunge, a vicious cycle could unfold, much as it has in the nation’s housing market.

The interesting thing here is that hese mortgages could be modified by a bankruptcy judge (cram down), they are performing loans, and it’s where the sensible banks did their business, which means that they will get hammered.

I see another government bailout.

Copyright Maximalists Lose One

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CBS runs a fantasy football league, and the NFL, and NFLPA were threatening a lawsuit over the ownership of the statistics and player names so CBS got to court first, and won a judgment:

BS Corp.’s Internet unit won the right to use National Football League players’ names and statistics for free in fantasy sports leagues it sponsors after a judge ruled the information is in the public domain.

A federal appeals court decision in 2007 that companies operating fantasy leagues have a First Amendment right to use names and data of baseball players without paying a licensing fee applies to football as well, U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery said in Minneapolis.

This is really basic stuff. You cannot copyright information in the United States, only unique expression or arrangement of that data, such as Westlaw’s citation system for court cases.

The statistics, and the attachment of them to player names, teams, and player numbers, is simply not a unique arrangement or expression of data.

That being said, restrictions of data under an IP regime is the end goal of copyright maximalists, and would make all of society a far poorer place.