Top cop, Paul Gerbino, V.P. of Content Licensing, Thomas Industrial Network, started out this session with the challenge of electronic theft of content, estimated to be $1.4 to $1.6 billion annually. Addressing the issue starts in our school system, as Malik Aborashid, of iParadigms described their services designed to combat plagiarism in the academic environment by matching submitted work against their database. (It's used in my son's high school!). Copyright Clearing Center, represented by Ed Colleran, is used by many corporations to collect copyright payments, and ensure compliance with copyright law. On the web, iCopyright, represented by Mike O'Donnel, and Valeo IP, represented by Jon Collins, provide alternate solutions.

While panelists were heavy handed on the emphasis of theft, questions from the audience focused on the difficulty of separating the marketing aspects of free content from the legal aspects of paying copyright fee. When does "email this article to a friend" (for free!) change into "pay me for this content" because it exceeds fair use? What about Seth Godin's book, The IdeaVirus, made available as a free ebook download, but which drove very successful sales of his hard copy book. (I was one of those who decided to buy, rather than read 200 pages on a computer screen or print out 200 pages!) There are many aspects to consider, and this session just skimmed the surface.