A cool way to protect property rights

Ok, this might not strictly speaking be finance, but property rights are always an interesting topic that has financial ramifications (we usually cover them in International finance classes) and htis is just so cool that I had to share it.

It deals with how YouTube is satisfying the Music companies.

YouTube’s Video Poker - New York Times:

"Potentially most significant, Mr. Hurley pointed to a deal signed recently with Warner Music that he hopes will be a model for dealing with Hollywood and record companies from now on. YouTube is developing technology that will identify Warner music used in a video that is uploaded. When the site plays those videos, it will share some of its advertising revenue with Warner and others with copyrighted material that is used."

That is really cool! The copyrighted material is at once both protected and allowed to be used. A win win!

Of course, many do not think it goes far enough (and indeed it may not), but the use of technology to share ad revenue is a step in the right direction and bears more attention.