It may not be the highest peak in Santa Clara County, but it is definitely one of the most majestic. Recognizable by the 4-story former Air Force building, Mount Umunhum rises sharply from the southern floor of Silicon Valley. The revolving radar dish atop this mountain made a big impression on me when I was wee lad. Similarly, my 7-year old son was impressed with the building on top of the peak and shared my desire to scale this somewhat formidable peak, which has been a life long dream.  Read on to see what this has to do with content licensing.

Fortunately, no grappling hooks are required, as scaling this peak means walking a paved road, which, until a few years ago, was only open to Air Force personnel and some private landowners. Fortunately, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District took over the Air Force property with the intent of making it available to the public. The operative word there is intent. As my son and I found out, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has not yet been able to secure a right-of-way easement from the private property owners that live along the last portion of the road.

It was very difficult to believe that this road, which from all appearance feels like a public road (I assume taxpayers provided the financing as it was the only way to access to the Air Force base on top of the mountain), was private. Not wanting to trespass and not wanting a confrontation from some territorial landowners, my son and I reluctantly turned around and sadly started our journey back to the valley floor.We left with a hope that someday the private landowners will grant the public the right to traverse their private property, so all have the chance to see the vista from this familiar, yet remote peak.

 Here is the tie between our interrupted journey and the telecom and entertainment worlds. Increasingly, for telecom carriers property rights will be a key issue going forward. For years, telecom carriers have had to deal with the real world rights gaining easements and rights of way. Similarly, as the worlds of music and images become an increasingly large part of the mix, virtual and intellectual property rights will become, if they are not already, an important consideration for any telecom carrier. As independent telcos become creators and producers of content, they will become both licensee and licensor. 

Of course, independent telcos already see some of the indirect consequences of the licensing world through the arduous and sometimes confusing contract negotiations for content. In one sense, those negotiations are just the symptoms of hundreds and maybe thousands of agreements that start with the original artists and actors.   

Just like the challenge the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District faces in getting the rights to the a small strip of road, Intellectual property rights will probably always represent the biggest hurdle in deploying all of the whiz-bang interactive media features that Silicon Valley promises. Still, there has to be a better way for dealing with these sorts of rights and maybe the content owners have to be a little more aggressive. Maybe the folks at Lucas (Star Wars), Amazon (DRM-free music) and Snocap (artists setting their own rules) will show the way. 

Note:  A look at a few of these references on Mount Umunhum indicates that I am not the only one frustrated by the lack of public access to Mount Umunhum:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Umunhum

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/153994/mount-umunhum.html

http://ryskamp.org/brain/cycling/assault-on-mount-umunhum