"Companies are suffering information loss, but they don't talk about it because it could easily hurt their business, " explains Duhl, who says businesses will be slower to assign rights to their content until they better understand how it will be integrated into their existing setup, and what the cost will be.

FORBES: Showdown In The Digital Rights Corral

How's this for clumsy goods handling: Warehouse managers can't decide in advance how to allocate storage space or assign labor to unpack and store shipments because, in some situations, until a container is unsealed, no one knows whether it contains glass ornaments or dining room tables (the containers aren't marked).

FORBES: The logistics of a dinner plate