WebHouse Troubles Bleed into Priceline’s Future?

San Jose Mercury News: WebHouse to close its doors. Although WebHouse is a separate operation from Priceline, the company’s failure raises questions about the “name-your-own-price” business model that Priceline pioneered and about the future growth prospects for Priceline, an electronic commerce bellwether whose stock has plunged.

It would be rough justice if the entire Priceline/Walker Digital empire came crashing down. This is the crowd that has become a poster child for the twisting of the patent system into a process that creates monopolies for things that are only original or novel if you turn off your common sense.

Priceline is currently under investigation by the Connecticut Attorney General’s office for a variety of consumer complaints. If this company is truly a bellwether for the business-to-consumer e-commerce arena, this could get very, very interesting.


Perpetual Copyrights

That’s what Congress, at the behest of the entertainment and information industries, has been moving toward in recent decades. It’s not a coincidence that the copyright term keeps getting extended every time Mickey Mouse comes close to entering the public domain, where it should have gone decades ago.

Some lawyers who care about the public interest are making the useful argument that the latest extension violates the Constitution (New York Times) in several ways. The trial court’s dismissal of the case is under appeal.

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