Digital Commercial Content Starting in the mid 1990s today most traditional media can also be found online. The overwhelming majority of bigger newspapers and periodicals, but also radio and TV stations now complement their classic media formats with digital programming. For the most part they transform existing analogue information in digital form, with some additional features. Especially the big media conglomerates, having realized the economic potential of the Internet, have started to get into the business of digital content. Not surprisingly their engagement in the virtual sphere has not brought much new concerning their programming. They offer entertainment, music, sports and some news channels. One of the reasons for this development might be, that the big commercial media companies are able to re-use already existing programming from their other ventures. Examples are Viacom's MTV Network, which now has a twin online or Time Warner's CNN, which on the Web is called CNN Interactive. Considering business economic factors this move suggests itself as hardly any further resources are needed and the already existing programming can be put in the Internet at little extra cost. Also, regarding the undeniable success of their traditional content in terms of revenue generation the digital reproduction of their classic programming concept seems to be an obvious step.

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Invention According to the WIPO an invention is a "... novel idea which permits in practice the solution of a specific problem in the field of technology." Concerning its protection by law the idea "... must be new in the sense that is has not already been published or publicly used; it must be non-obvious in the sense that it would not have occurred to any specialist in the particular industrial field, had such a specialist been asked to find a solution to the particular problem; and it must be capable of industrial application in the sense that it can be industrially manufactured or used." Protection can be obtained through a patent (granted by a government office) and typically is limited to 20 years.

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