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In the era of the Broadband Society, cloud journalism, and streaming, the film industry is trying to modify traditional distribution channels. The adaptation of literary classics was one of the most widespread practices to obtain well-known, quality material for new productions. The objective of this research is to understand empirically what differences are involved in industry’s major production and distribution companies’ choice between adapting preexisting material or creating an entirely new film, as well as the benefits of adaptations. The methodology is comparative and quantitative, consisting of collecting data on films from the five major distributors (Universal, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony, and Paramount) from 2010 to 2019 and analyzing variables to detect market trends related to adaptations during that decade. We observed a higher percentage of adaptations as well as correlations between adaptations and film genre, distributor and genre, adaptations and awards, awards and genre, and genre and the film’s evaluation, as well as between distributor and average budget, adaptations and budget, adaptation and opening weekend box office takings, genre and profit, adaptations and worldwide box office revenues, ratings and worldwide box office takings, and awards and worldwide box office takings; however, this was not observed between adaptation and profit and the breakeven point. It is concluded that, despite the fact that the trend of using this practice has not increased in recent years, it provides a great advantage compared with debuting new intellectual property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on expectation confirmation research, we develop hypotheses regarding the effect of compensation on key customer outcomes following a major data breach and consequent service recovery effort. Data were collected in a longitudinal field study of Sony customers during their data breach in 2011. A total of 144 customers participated in the two-phase data collection that began when the breach was announced and concluded after reparations were made. Using polynomial modeling and response surface analysis, we demonstrate that a modified assimilation–contrast model explained perceptions of service quality and continuance intention and a generalized negativity model explained repurchase intention. The results of our work contribute to research on data breaches and service failure by demonstrating the impacts of compensation on customer outcomes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 1, 2005, the Samuelson Clinic filed a brief amicus curiae in the U.S. Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster on behalf of 60 law professors and the U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery. USACM is the world's oldest and largest international scientific and educational organization composed of 78,000 computing professionals dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology.The brief argues that this case is fundamentally about technology policy, not about file sharing or copyright infringement. Each of the alternative secondary liability standards for which the petitioners and others argue would dramatically change the balance of power between the entertainment and the technology industries (despite the absence of a statutory basis in copyright law for this change), and would disrupt settled expectations in the information technology industry. For more than 20 years, both the technology and entertainment industries have experienced unprecedented technological innovation and economic prosperity under the fundamental framework created by the Sony rule that developers are not secondarily liable when the technologies they create are capable of substantial non-infringing uses. The alternative tests for secondary liability proposed by the petitioners and various amici would upset settled expectations and mire the courts in subjective reviews of new technologies—a recipe for instability and confusion that would severely impair innovation and technological development.The brief further argues that the Sony rule has prevented the very confusion and instability in copyright that, in the patent context, led to Congress's enactment of the staple article of commerce rule. Prior to the enactment of 35 U.S.C. § 271, secondary liability in patent law was decided on a case-by-case basis, and various courts imposed different liability standards, creating instability and uncertainty in patent law. Section 271 was added to the patent statute to clarify and stabilize secondary liability rules, and it has been largely successful in doing so—just as Sony has been in the copyright context. Finally, the brief argues that only Congress has the institutional competence to craft rules that address new technological developments such as the peer-to-peer file-sharing phenomenon.

This article reviews the use of mirrorless systems in medical photography, based on the author's experience using Sony mirrorless systems. It is not aimed at being an in depth comparative technical review but aims to discuss the technology as a viable alternative to the digital single lens reflex (DSLR) when documenting the most common subjects a medical photographer will face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International standardisation contributes to market expansion. The standardisation also leads to the rapid spread of the technology and allows easy entry for many competitors into the market. This often leads to severe price erosion, with the result that a company which develops business opportunities from innovation fails to profit therefrom. This paper examines the way in which Sony could succeed in profiting from the business of 130 mm MO media in spite of the fact that the media was standardised. A key factor for the success is a strategy of repeated 'open' and 'narrow' approaches. One approach is to build an entry barrier by creating a market in demand for highly reliable media. The other approach is periodic introduction of a new generation of the media with double capacity and its periodic standardisation. The market, which is once open to competitors through standardisation, is narrowed again by the aforementioned strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges the conventional wisdom that cyber operations have limited coercive value. It theorizes that cyber operations contribute to coercion by imposing costs and destabilizing an opponent’s leadership. As costs mount and destabilization spreads, the expected utility of capitulation surpasses that of continued defiance, leading the opponent’s leaders to comply with the coercer’s demands. The article applies this ‘cost-destabilization’ model to the 2014 North Korean cyber operation against Sony. Through cost imposition and leadership destabilization, the North Korean operation, despite its lack of physical destructiveness, caused Sony to make a series of costly decisions to avoid future harm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

El 19 de septiembre de 2016 Sony CSL, compañía desarrolladora de software, anunció la creación de la primera obra musical cuya titularidad adjudica a inteligencia artificial. El artículo analiza las consecuencias jurídicas de tal afirmación, así como los límites conceptuales y legales dentro del universo de derechos de autor, lo anterior con la finalidad de dilucidar si estamos en presencia de una nueva figura jurídico-autoral que invite a reflexionar sobre los sujetos de protección de nuestras leyes, o bien si aún estamos a una distancia razonable en que la normatividad aplicable resuelva la titularidad de derechos a favor de la inteligencia artificial en vez de hacerlo a favor de las personas jurídicas

Hay muchas razones para pensar que el ambiente organizativo, legal, económico, comercial y cultural existente en muchas de nuestras naciones, no favorece todo lo posible el surgimiento y desarrollo de pequeñas empresas; que puedan evolucionar desde la micro y pequeña organización, hasta variantes mayores; y así crear la necesaria riqueza y consecuentemente los empleos requeridos, para que la prosperidad beneficie a los sectores no siempre favorecidos de nuestras sociedades. Debido a ello, nuestras economías devienen “economías de timbiriches”, con miles de empresas que nunca crecen, y que malamente permiten alimentarse a sus dueños. Se presentan aquí algunas prácticas empresariales dignas de ser conocidas, aquellas que las llevaron de ser microempresas al borde de la desaparición, a lo que son hoy. Se tratará de destacar éxitos, pero también errores. De la misma manera, se darán pautas para que nuestras empresas puedan surgir de una manera positiva, alternando resultados buenos y malos para tener como un punto de partida en nuestras empresas.

Perspectives on Russian television focus mainly on state controlled networks. Russia, however, also has several important commercial televisions stations to whom little attention has been given. The most important of these stations is the entertainment network STS. The station was founded in 1996 when a subscription station AMTV merged with Saint Petersburg based broadcaster Channel Six and several regional stations to form Russia's fifth national broadcaster. After airing primarily Hollywood and Latin American series in the 1990s, the station began to produce Russian language series in 2003. Today the station is one of the most important entertainment brands in the former Soviet Union. This paper traces the history of STS and its importance in bringing new genres and production techniques to Russia. It also maps the network's explosive growth in the 2000s and its relationship with major Hollywood studios, most notably Sony. The influence of the station's two most important executives Alexander Rodanyansky and Vyacheslav Murugov is also examined. The paper then theorizes on what STS' current strategy may yield and what its current programs suggest about the changing nature of the Russian television market in an increasingly politicized environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]