Hank Risan (born February 13, 1955) is an American business executive, scientist, and creator of digital media rights and security patents.

Early life and education

Risan was born in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

in 1955. He began studying the piano at age 5 and the guitar at age 13. At age 15, Risan became an apprentice to fretted instrument maker Jonathan Carmi Simon at the Dulcimer Works in Los Angeles and at age 17 started buying and selling vintage guitars made by C. F. Martin & Company. Risan worked with noted neurobiologist Dr. Charles Leo Ortiz, head of the Dept. of Biology at

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

(UCSC). Risan also did 3-D simulated computer modeling of the tertiary topology of the hemoglobin molecule with a grant from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. For Dr. Gerhard Ringel, head of the Math department at UCSC, Risan worked on embeddings on orientable and non-orientable surfaces. He also worked on a non-computer-based solution for the

four color theorem In mathematics, the four color theorem, or the four color map theorem, states that no more than four colors are required to color the regions of any map so that no two adjacent regions have the same color. ''Adjacent'' means that two regions shar ...

. During the 1970s, Risan studied mathematics for two years at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) and earned

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

s in mathematics (with Honors) and biology from UCSC. His undergraduate thesis in neurobiology concerned the

network topology Network topology is the arrangement of the elements (Data link, links, Node (networking), nodes, etc.) of a communication network. Network topology can be used to define or describe the arrangement of various types of telecommunication networks, ...

of the human brain. Risan concurrently attended

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

programs at UCSC and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(where he was

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

) in mathematics and neurobiology. He also studied topological manifold theory with

Robion Kirby Robion Cromwell Kirby (born February 25, 1938) is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in low-dimensional topology. Together with Laurent C. Siebenmann he developed the Kirby–Siebenmann invariant ...

, co-inventor the

Kirby–Siebenmann class In mathematics, more specifically in geometric topology, the Kirby–Siebenmann class is an obstruction for topological manifolds to allow a ''PL''-structure. The KS-class For a topological manifold ''M'', the Kirby–Siebenmann class \kappa(M) \in ...

, at UC Berkeley. Risan completed his Ph.D. dissertation at

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, England and he attended graduate-level business courses at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Career

Risan was a securities trader during his career. Currently, he is CEO o
Media Rights Technologies, Inc.
and its subsidiary,

BlueBeat Music BlueBeat Music (BlueBeat; BlueBeat.com) is an internet music service that features unique sound-alike recordings of previously recorded musical works called “Psycho-Acoustic Simulations.” Background BlueBeat Music, then called Music Public B ...

, and chairman o
TheMoMI.org
an online repository of articles about musical instruments.

Media Rights Technologies, Inc.

In 2001 Risan and his business partner, Bianca Soros, founded Media Rights Technologies, Inc. (MRT) (originally called "Music Public Broadcasting") to develop

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

and technologies that would enable secure transmission, protection and monetization of digital content within a computer network. In 1999 Risan funded a team of 16 software engineers to develop technology that would protect record companies, Hollywood studios, and other digital content owners against piracy and ensure accurate monetization of their content. In 2001 Risan began filing domestic and foreign digital media and security patent applications, more than 20 of which have been allowed to date.

Beatles controversy

In November 2009 Risan sparked a copyright controversy when BlueBeat offered its full catalog of simulated songs for $0.25 per download, including, for the first time,

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

songs. London-based EMI Group Ltd. filed suit, accusing BlueBeat of violating copyright law by offering the Beatles’ entire catalog without EMI’s permission. A spokesperson for EMI said the company had "not authorized content to be sold or made available on Bluebeat.com." In court filings, BlueBeat asserted that it legally licensed the Beatles simulations and was paying royalties due. BlueBeat further claimed that it lawfully simulated the Beatles songs under the sound-alike provision o
Section 114 (b) of the Copyright Act
" After listening to the BlueBeat simulations, Federal Judge

John F. Walter John F. Walter (born November 3, 1944) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Education and career Walter was born in Buffalo, New York. He received a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

issued a temporary restraining order against BlueBeat.com to stop selling the Beatles song simulations online, opining that differences in the sound recordings were not discernible. BlueBeat agreed to stop selling the Beatles simulations until the

U.S. Copyright Office The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that registers copyright claims, records information about copyright ownership, provides information to the public, and assists ...

issues a registration for the simulations, and settled the EMI lawsuit with no admission of liability for $950,000.

Personal life

Collections

Hank Risan musical instrument collection included more than 750 examples of fine 19th and 20th century acoustic instruments. Risan owns an 1835

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

2½-17 guitar that is believed to have accompanied

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

(born Samuel Clemens) throughout his life. During a 1999 appearance on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's (NPR) "All Things Considered" program Risan played an arrangement of the

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...

classic, "Old Susannah," on the Twain guitar. In 2014, Risan placed 265 of his classic guitars on the block with boutique auction house Guernsey's in New York. The auction was called "The Artistry of the Guitar". However, many of the guitars, including the Martin--which was ultimately purchased by The Martin Guitar Company--did not reach their pre-auction estimates or reserves. Risan also owns an authenticated Maltese Falcon prop from the 1941 Warner Bros. film production directed by

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

and starring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Risan, Hank Living people 1955 births American inventors American business executives American collectors