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Blog postVarious IP advocates sometimes argue IP is an even purer or stronger form of property than property rights in material resources, because with those, you just find them and they already exist, and you come to own them by adding some of your own labor or transformation to them (this is also similar to the criticism of property rights in land by moronic Georgists),1 but with ideas, they come purely from the intellect so are 100% the product of the creator.
This is all nonsense -
Blog postSee also Benjamin Tucker and the Great Nineteenth Century IP Debates in Liberty Magazine.
Title:The Question of Copyright
Author: James L. Walker
Topics: egoism, individualism, intellectual property Date: 1891 Source: http://fair-use.org/tak-kak/the-question-of-copyright/ An amazingly perceptive work for something written so long ago. For example, here is Walker skewering and anticipating the practice of Monsanto and others with their ridiculous s -
Blog postLouis Rouanet, “Michel Chevalier’s Forgotten Case Against the Patent System,” Libertarian Papers 7 (1) (2015): 73–94.
Abstract: Although Michel Chevalier was an influential economist during the second half of the nineteenth century, and is well-known as an architect of the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty, his work in economics has been largely forgotten. In particular, Chevalier is notable for being one of the only French liberals opposed to patents. Unfortunately, his original and compe -
Blog postFrom 2016. For more by Carson.
“Intellectual Property” Just Keeps Getting Deadlier Kevin Carson | Support this author on Patreon | April 27th, 2016 You may be familiar with the role of proprietary automobile diagnostic software in enforcing a repair cartel of the Big Auto manufacturers, dealership mechanics, and auto repair chains and big garages that can afford to license the software. By using closed software that makes it impossible for an independent party to a -
Blog postJay Mukherjee & Walter E. Block, “Libertarians and the Catholic Church on Intellectual Property Laws/Libertarios y la Iglesia Católica en las leyes de propiedad intelectual,” Las Torres de Lucca: Revista Internacional de Filosofía Política Nº 1 (julio-diciembre 2012): 83-99
Abstract:
Catholics and libertarians make strange bedfellows. They sharply disagree on many issues. However, when it comes to intellectual property rights, they are surprisingl -
Blog postFrom Alexander Zaitchik, Owning the Sun (online at https://b-ok dot cc/book/21083878/f3fb12):
“Long before medicines entered the monopoly debate, many countries were hesitant to accept the general Anglo-American concept of “owning ideas.” A debate over the legitimacy and value of monopolies as awards for invention was a tempest across Europe throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. The Netherlands proudly maintained what it called a “free trade in inventions” until 19 -
Blog postThe recently-published Routledge Companion to Libertarianism (Matt Zwolinski & Benjamin Ferguson, eds., 2022) includes a chapter on “Intellectual Property,” written by Objectivist law professor Adam Mossoff. I was initially dismayed that Mossoff was included in the book since he is pro-IP.1 However, according to the Introduction, his chapter “surveys the surprisingly wide range of libertarian opinion on the issue of intellectual property rights.” As Mossoff states, “This chapter does not
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Blog postDean Baker is sometimes skeptical of IP excesses,1 though he’s no abolitionist.2
But as I said, sometimes he has a decent point when criticizing IP. For example, see his “Working Paper: Is Intellectual Property the Root of All Evil? Patents, Copyrights, and Inequality” (2018), which persuasively argues that abolishing patents would save about $827 billion annually, with some products becoming more than 90% cheaper.
See also “Costs of the Patent System Revisited.
Of cou -
Blog postWendy McElroy has previously written about a fascinating debate on intellectual property among various anarchists in the pages of Benjamin R. Tucker’s periodical Liberty. She provides and excellent discussion of the debate in her article “Copyright and Patent in Benjamin Tucker’s Periodical,” Mises Daily (July 28, 2010), based on a chapter in Wendy McElroy, The Debates of Liberty: An Overview of Individualist Anarchism, 1881–1908 (2002), which also contains detailed endnotes and ref
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Blog postThis is a superb article by libertarian law professor Gary Chartier, arguing that IP cannot be justified by natural law reasoning, and in fact is incompatible with natural property rights: “Intellectual Property and Natural Law,” Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy vol. 36 (2011): 58–88.1
As he writes:
Positive-law IP rights seem to be inconsistent with the baseline property rules supported by natural law theory; and arguments that such rights generate necessary incentives -
Blog postDelivered at the Conference on Trusts of the Chicago Civic Federation, 14 September 1899. Later published as a pamphlet (New York: Benj. R. Tucker, 1903), available here and here. I’ve added some bolding to emphasize some key comments related to patent and copyright.
The Attitude of Anarchism Toward Industrial Combinations (1899) by Benjamin R. Tucker (1854-1939)
Delivered at the Conference on Trusts of the Chicago Civic Federation, 14 September 1899. -
Blog postFascinating series of articles about how bumbling and aggressive assertion and use of copyright law by the music industry distorted and suppressed innovation, using the Napster situation as a case study. (One of my first articles on IP was a response to the dispute between the copyright terrorists and Napster: “In Defense of Napster and Against the Second Homesteading Rule,” LewRockwell.com (Sep. 4, 2000).) Carrier’s piece is thorough and excellent, and Masnick, as usual, hits the nail on the
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Blog postTo try to get the Constitution ratified, Madison and his two cronies Hamilton and Jay engaged propaganda via the Federalist Papers to try to sell the new central state they were proposing.1 Regarding the provision authorizing patent and copyright law, he wrote in Federalist No. 43 (2):
THE FOURTH class comprises the following miscellaneous powers: 1. A power “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for a limited time, to authors and inventors, the exclusive ri -
Blog postTweet from Monica Perez about plant and seed patents:
oh yeah…they own their sterile yet rapacious genes now…so they put the gmo out there, it contaminates heirloom seeds then they can say you’re not allowed to reuse their gmos without paying again…this all comes from effing patents & copyright @NSKinsella was right all along
Related posts.
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Blog postAnd now for the stupidest argument I have heard in quite some time: Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton, Yotam Kaplan, and Emily Michiko Morris, “Unregistered Patents & Gender Equality,” Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, Vol. 43 (2020): 47–89. They say women don’t get their “fair share” of patent rights because you have to apply for a patent, and that is costly; so they want to create a new regime of “unregistered patent rights,” which makes no sense at all if you understand how existing patent la
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Blog postAs I have argued, one argument for intellectual property, sometimes implicit, often explicit, is that on the free market there is an underproduction of intellectual goods such as technical innovations and artistic works, because it is so easy for would-be customers and competitors to copy the good that it is not profitable to create it in the first place. I.e., there is a “market failure” that can be fixed by granting temporary monopoly privileges (patent and copyright, mislabeled as “intelle
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Blog postBy people other than me (mostly). Listed first; embedded below.
Nina Paley, Copying Is Not Theft Uniquenameosaurus, Why Creators Shouldn’t Own their Creations (And Why it’s Good for them too) Stephen Davies, Intellectual Property Rights: Yay or Nay? Karl Fogel, The Surprising History of Copyright and What It Means For Google (companion article: The Surprising History of Copyright and The Promise of a Post-Copyright World) Stephen Davies, SOPA and 3 Ways to think about Intellectual P -
Blog post“Libertarian views on intellectual property law: An analysis of laissez-faire theories applied on the modern day IP system” (pdf), by Mick Soepboer, a Dissertation in Commercial Law, the University of Cape Town School for Advanced Legal Studies Master (July 2009).
Abstract: During the elections for the European Parliament in June 2009, an unknown party in Sweden turned out to be very successful. The Pirate Party, campaigning for patents to be scrapped and copyright to last just five y -
Blog postCapitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered, by Cecilia Rikap (online at https://b-ok dot cc/book/21447578/9fc152)
From Amazon:
In contemporary global capitalism, the most powerful corporations are innovation or intellectual monopolies. The book’s unique perspective focuses on how private ownership and control of knowledge and data have become a major source of rent and power. The author explains how at the one pole, these corporations concentr -
Blog postExcellent recent paper, “On Type Creation and Ownership,” by Wojciech Gamrot [PDF], arguing against libertarian creationism. From Political Dialogues (30/2021), DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/DP.2021.010.
Abstract:
The subject matter of intellectual property rights is an intangible entity. It is identified as an immaterial type which may be embodied in multiple material tokens. A prominent acquisition principle postulates that creators are entitled to a property right in thei -
Blog postMy article Against Intellectual Property has been translated into several languages. I was asked some time ago to write an introduction for two upcoming Persian translations by two separate translators. Since I don’t have much of particular interest to say pertinent to Iran itself, and can’t see a way to write a separate intro for each of them, and since I already wrote an Introduction for the 2012 LFB edition, I decided to write a new, more general article that could be used as an introducti
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Blog postSee Reason‘s article Josh Hawley Targets Disney With Copyright Legislation:
Hawley’s bill, the Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022, would shorten the period of time that a creative work can be copyrighted. Currently, any creation is protected for its creator’s entire life plus 70 years; works created prior to 1978 are protected for 95 years. Hawley’s bill would shorten that period to 28 years, with the option to renew at the end of that term for a limit of 56 years tota -
Blog postShould intellectual property be accorded the same protections as tangible forms of property?. One law professor wants to know.
No endorsement implied. But still.
Peter S. Menell, “Intellectual Property and the Property Rights Movement,” Regulation, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Fall 2007) [PDF]
The somewhat mealy-mouthed but cautiously leaning in the right direction Conclusion:
The property rights movement is too limited and grounded in absolutist ideology to support the nee -
Blog postThis is an original submission by Vincent de Van. See also Vincent de Van, Why Intellectual Property Isn’t Necessary to Reward Innovation.
Update: see also his Meds: The Seen—and Unseen—of Intellectual Property Laws and the vigorous comments section.
The Seen and the Unseen of Intellectual Property Laws By Vincent de Van April 17, 2022
Introduction Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned in economics is that public policies have seen and unseen effects. The mastery o -
Blog postFrom Patently-O, 2012. See also: Mossoff: Patent Law Really Is as Straightforward as Real Estate Law; and re negative servitudes: Intellectual Property Rights as Negative Servitudes and Libertarian Answer Man: Restrictive Covenants and Homeowners Associations (HOAs).
Libertarians and Patents: Kinsella vs Mossoff August 19, 2012. Dennis Crouch Libertarian writer and patent attorney Stephen Kinsella has written a critique of Prof. Mossoff’s Trespass Fallacy paper. LINK. -
Blog postAn old Mises post from Skip Oliva.
See also The Fountainhead and IP Terrorism; What Sparked Your Interest in Liberty? (FEE.org)
“I designed Cortlandt. I gave it to you. I destroyed it.” SEPTEMBER 4, 2009 by S.M. OLIVA
Stephan Kinsella has previously written regarding Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and intellectual property:
First, note the extreme, almost Galambos-like importance [Objectivists] attach to intellectual property. For example -
Blog postInteresting paper by Alfredo Bullard, “Is Intellectual Property Theft?“, Yale Law School SELA (Seminario en Latinoamérica de Teoría Constitucional y Política) Papers (Jan. 2008)
Abstract:
Marx said that private property is theft. In the Marxist vision of reality, to own something is to have stolen it from someone. Today few subscribe to this belief. We know that property is a central institution for market development and for the operation of any reasonabl -
Blog postBelow is a transcript of my debate with Bob Wenzel on IP:
KOL038 | Debate with Robert Wenzel on Intellectual Property
Transcript
Debate with Robert Wenzel on Intellectual Property
Stephan Kinsella and Robert Wenzel
April 1, 2013
00:00:00
ROBERT WENZEL: Everyone, this is Robert Wenzel. Welcome to a special edition of the Robert Wenzel Show. You didn’t hear the usual music introduction because what we’re doing is we’re putting -
Blog postParaphrased interchange:
[X]: …I have been exploring several ideas for possible inquiries into the nature and effects of patents. … One thing in particular that has been occupying a great share of my reflection time is the death toll of intellectual property laws. Surely, as you have demonstrated by excellence in your writings and studies, there is a strong economic, moral, and philosophical case to be made against intellectual property laws. But, perhaps, there is a bloody and unseen (or -
Blog postConfused “libertarian” Jan Lester1 makes a feeble attempt to criticize some of my anti-IP arguments, in a retarded paper called “Against Against Intellectual Property: A Short Refutation of Meme Communism“.
This essay is intended to be a refutation of the main thesis in Against Intellectual Property, Kinsella 2008 (hereafter, K8). Points of agreement, relatively trivial disagreement, and irrelevant issues will largely be ignored, as will much repetition of errors in K8. Otherwise, the -
Blog postMy libertarianism has been fairly consistent over the years, especially since I morphed from Randian minarchist to Rothbardian anarchist around about 1989 or so (my last gasp in the minarchist camp was in a 1989 article; see Then and Now: From Randian Minarchist to Austro-Anarcho-Libertarian). I’ve been a pretty steady Rothbardian-Hoppean-Austrian anarcho-libertarian since then, for about 25 years. I try to develop my views carefully, systematically, precisely, and incrementally, buildin
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Blog postLots of interesting developments in the liberty space of late, such as Bitcoin, and other projects like General Governance, Blueseed, the Honduran Free Cities project, and Jeff Tucker’s imminent Liberty.me (I’m involved in GG and the latter).
An exciting new project I learned about recently is FreeSpeechMe (mirror), a project by libertarian Michael Dean and others.
This is a project to spread and improve Dot-Bit (.bit), “a new -
Blog postAfter much thought and debate about this topic over the last 25 or so years, here is my attempt at a lean, concise, precise definition of what a libertarian is:
A libertarian is a person who believes that the invasion of the borders of (trespass against) others’ bodies or owned external scarce resources, i.e. property (with property allocations determined in accordance with Lockean homesteading rules and contractual transfer rules), is unjustified, because they (for whatever -
Blog postI just came across this wonderful music from Ron Paul fan Tatiana Moroz (iTunes albums).
I’ve blogged previously on peace/liberty-related art: see Justin Gaffrey Peace Art:
I’ve said it before (Peace Art): I love Justin Gaffrey’s paintings, and in particular his peace sign paintings.
See also related posts below:
My Favorite Earrings Posted by Stephan Kinsella on August 19, 2008 11:09 PM
After winning the gold in the balance beam, Shawn Johnson, th -
Blog postI recently came across the website and podcast “Complete Liberty,” by Wes Bertrand, also featuring Bertrand’s 2007 book Complete Liberty: The Demise of the State and the Rise of Voluntary America (print; PDF). The podcast has some excellent episodes, including a whole series on IP—episodes 89–99.
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Blog postJeffrey A. Tucker
Jeff Tucker of Laissez Faire Books is giving a free Webinar this afternoon: “Commerce and the Commons: How Enterprise Will Survive and Thrive the Death of Intellectual Property“. This event is sponsored by European Students For Liberty, and appears to be open to anyone. Info below:
Tuesday, January 29, at 20:00-21:00 CET/2:00PM-3:00PM EDT
Where? On your Computer!
Speaker: Jeffrey Tucker
Topic: Commerce and the Commons: -
Blog postAs many of my readers know, I often lecture and speak and give podcast or radio interviews on various libertarian topics and issues, such as intellectual property (IP), anarcho-libertarians, Austrian law and economic, contract theory, rights and punishment theory, and so on. I also blog and comment regularly on such matters in various blogs (primarily The Libertarian Standard, on general libertarian matters, and C4SIF, on IP-related matters), Facebook, and so on—often posting m
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Blog postEvan Isaac, Mark Ovdabeest, and Colin Porter have made a fun aprioristic rap song of Hoppe’s social views, Drop It Like It’s Hoppe (based on Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (lyrics)):
The lyrics are below. Ovdabeest is the same guy who made Black and Yellow: AnCap remix (based on this song):
Last time I (and Hoppe, and others in the Mises crowd) were lampooned like this was in Jason Ditz’s series of short movies: see The Koch Cycle: Anarcho-Pacificist Films Presents…
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Blog postI delivered this speech in September 2012 for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society in Bodrum, Turkey. The audio of my speech was corrupted due to a technical error, so I re-recorded a version of the speech (available for streaming and download below). For others, see the links in the Program, or the PFS Vimeo channel.
The talk was largely based on two previous papers:
“Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society,” Jou -
Blog postI’ve always liked Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s observations regarding how we have to treat aggressors as technical, not ethical, problems. From The Economics and Ethics of Private Property (relevant parts bolded):
while scarcity is a necessary condition for the emergence of the problem of political philosophy, it is not sufficient. For obviously, we could have conflicts regarding the use of scarce resources with, let us say, an elephant or a mosquito, yet we woul
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