Against Intellectual Property
Sep 17, 2015by Stephan N. KinsellaGet it by Tomorrow, May 24FREE Shipping on eligible ordersMore Buying ChoicesAuto-delivered wirelessly- by Frank van Dun and Paul GottfriedAuto-delivered wirelesslyGet it by Tomorrow, May 24FREE Shipping on eligible ordersMore Buying Choices
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Jan 1, 2004by N. Stephan Kinsella and Andrew SimpsonLibertarian Papers, Vol. 1, Part 1 (2009)
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Libertarian Papers, Vol. 3, Part 1 (2011)
May 31, 2011Get it by Tomorrow, May 24FREE Shipping on eligible ordersMore Buying ChoicesAuto-delivered wirelesslyLibertarian Papers, Vol. 2, Part 2 (2010)
Apr 30, 2011Get it by Tomorrow, May 24FREE Shipping on eligible ordersAuto-delivered wirelesslyLibertarian Papers, Vol. 2, Part 1 (2010)
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Stephan Kinsella
Stephan Kinsella is a patent attorney and libertarian writer in Houston, Texas. He is the Founding and Executive Editor of Libertarian Papers, Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom (C4SIF), and founding member of the Property and Freedom Society. He was General Counsel for Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. and a partner with Duane Morris LLP. He received an LL.M. in international business law from King's College London, a JD from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU, and BSEE and MSEE degrees from LSU. He has published numerous articles and books on IP law, international law, and the application of libertarian principles to legal topics.
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Blog postFrom my Kinsella on Liberty podcast:
KOL220 | Future Gravy Interview about Blockstream and the Defensive Patent License by STEPHAN KINSELLA on MAY 4, 2017 Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 220.
This is my interview by Rod Rojas of the Future Gravy show, which focuses on bitcoin and blockchain topics. We discussed how patents harm innovation and various strategies some companies use to try to deal with the patent threat, such as patent pooling, defensive patent licensing, wh2 weeks ago Read more -
Blog postAn interesting argument against copyright based on Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s “argumentation ethics” defense of libertarian rights:
Argumentation Ethics vs. Copyright A recently published paper by Cezary Błaszczyk, University of Warsaw, “The Critique of Copyright in Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s Argumentation Ethics.”
2 months ago Read more -
Blog postTucker is spot-on here. Take the title: “Knowledge Is as Valuable as Physical Capital” — actually this is what IP proponents say, they say that knowledge is as important as physical goods and therefore you need property rights in ideas just as we need it in physical things. Tucker turns it on its head and say that both knowledge and capital are important and therefore the state should not attack either: it should not tax and regulate or collectivize private capital, and it should not res2 months ago Read more
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Blog post(Adapted from a couple of conversations with Facebook friends.)
I’ve observed before that information is a guide to action, not a means of action. Means of action are scarce and ownable so as to prevent conflict over the use of those means. The same is not true of knowledge or information, which merely guides action.1
Another way to see this is to understand that ownership may be viewed as the right to possess or control something, and is distinct from possession or control. <3 months ago Read more -
Blog postWell, sort of. Not bad, for a patent specialist and federal government employee.
Techdirt Podcast Episode 96: Death Knell For Software Patents
“Software patents have been dubious since their inception — not just in principle, but legally too. Past rulings have called their validity into serious question, and now an opinion from a prominent pro-patent judge has called for people to admit that they simply shouldn’t exist. This week, we discuss what this opinion means for the (ho7 months ago Read more -
Blog postNice, concise overview of various libertarian arguments against IP by Rob Nielsen on the Living Voluntary blog:
So-Called Intellectual Property POSTED ON AUGUST 30, 2016 BY ADMIN “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.” – Thomas Jefferson
Property ownership is central to liberty and civilization. Property rights prevent conflict over the use of scarce resourc7 months ago Read more -
Blog post“Patents are bulls–t,” says Newegg Chief Legal Officer Lee Cheng
At Ars Live 6, we talked to the attorney who fought patent trolls and won.
As I wrote in a Facebook thread:
“It’s all confusion and nonsense. He has no principled position at all. “When Cheng put it that way to his employers, they decided the money was worth it. If Cheng’s strategy worked, they would never have to deal with patent trolls again. “It was obvious there was a scam going on, and someone needed t8 months ago Read more -
Blog postBy Steve Lolyouwish:
The Rise of 3D Printing pushes the State closer to the Absurd Logical Conclusions of Intellectual Property and Copyright
The UK has just changed its copyright-and-patent monopoly law to extend copyright to furniture and to extend the term of that copyright on furniture with about a century. This follows a decision in the European Union, where member states are required to adhere to such an order. This change means that people will be prohibited from using 3D p8 months ago Read more -
Blog post“Let us stand on each other’s shoulders, instead of each other’s feet!”
From: Are “Intellectual Property Rights” Justified? (2000), by Markus Krummenacker
8 months ago Read more -
Blog postA Thesis, from Brent Franklin, Philosophy Dept., Central European University, “The Case Against a Moral Right to Intellectual Property” (Budapest, 2013).
8 months ago Read more -
Blog postSo some Randian, Gary “McGath,” who had published a weak semi-anti-IP article previously, “Patenting Software Threatens Innovation” (his utterly confused and totally useless article pontificates, “Software patents aren’t a necessity. Without patents, code can still be under copyright, protecting its authors from copying without compensation.” Brilliant, Gary, brilliant)—well, he submitted a pro-copyright article to FEE recently, his article “Is Copyright a Right?” As with all pro-IP arguments9 months ago Read more
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Blog postUpdate: see also discussion on Facebook.
Intellectual Property Is Theft
Dan Sanchez Thursday, June 30, 2016 Property must be distinguished from monopoly. They are often conflated because they both involve exclusive rights. But they are importantly different. Property is an exclusive right to use a particular means. Monopoly is the exclusive right to use any means in a certain way.
Property is the exclusive right to use this boat, this paper,&nb11 months ago Read more -
Blog postSee this interesting thesis by Mark Lemley, “IP in a World Without Scarcity” (abstract below).
More:
Mark Lemley: The Very Basis Of Our Patent System… Is A Myth Intellectual Property’s Great Fallacy My paper “Intellectual Freedom and Learning Versus Patent and Copyright,” The Libertarian Standard, Jan. 19, 2011 Knowledge is Power Kinsella: “Intellectual Freedom and Learning Versus Patent and Copyright”
IP in a World Without Scarcity
Mar11 months ago Read more -
Blog postIn a recent Cato Podcast, Trademarks and Derby-Pie®, host Caleb Brown interviews Walter Olson about trademark law, with reference to a recent controversy where the Kentucky Derby was threatening restaurants from selling a “Derby Pie” (see NPR, What’s Inside A ‘Derby Pie’? Maybe A Lawsuit Waiting To Happen), and similar absurd situations such as the NFL using trademark law to coerce companies not to use the term “Super Bowl.”
Unlike many other libertarian g1 year ago Read more -
Blog postIn this short and well-done video, libertarian and photographer Patrick Smith provides an argument against IP, explaining how he finally “saw the light” and realized that patent and copyright law are unjust and incompatible with property rights. Whereas he would previously become angry when people “took” his photographs and “used” them—especially, gasp, for profit!—he realized his arguments justifying his reaction were just emotional and finally came to see that there can be no just “in1 year ago Read more
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Blog postAs an increasing number of libertarians nowadays are aware or sense, intellectual property is utterly incompatible with private property rights and libertarian principles. In fact, it is one of the most insidious and harmful of statist policies.1 Ever since the advent of the Internet, which has magnified the costs of IP and made them more apparent, causing libertarians to turn their attention thereto, more and more libertarians are coming to oppose IP. Virtually all anarchist-libertarian1 year ago Read more
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Blog postI’ve spoken and published on IP theory so much, even I have trouble figuring out which of my various presentations is the best. I still agree with my Against Intellectual Property (published originally 2001) but it has some extraneous information I would now delete, is slightly dated, and I have in the meantime tightened up the language used in the argument and found a few additional arguments. Plus it’s fairly long.
I did a 2009 piece The Case Against IP: A Concis1 year ago Read more -
Blog postInteresting recent discussion/debate between minarchist Richard Epstein and anarchist libertarian Michael Huemer at Victor Niederhoffer’s “Junto” meeting in New York. Go to around 1:07:22 or so. Some guy asks a question about patent law in a free society.
Huemer seems to oppose patent law, though in a fairly tepid and unprincipled fashion. Epstein has respectable arguments for minarchy over anarchy, but his arguments for patent law are completely hollow: his case is basically empirica2 years ago Read more -
Blog postHenry George (1839–97): bad on property and rights (e.g. his nutty single-tax ideas, ably dissected by Rothbard here); and bad on IP too. He makes an artificial (and unsustainable) distinction between patent and copyright (like many political thinkers who pontificate on IP, he doesn’t seem to really understand the legal systems of patent and copyright that he feels compelled to weigh in on); he bases his critique of patent on ridiculous notions about the role of labor in the acquisition2 years ago Read more
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Blog postReason and a group called “R Street” did some a panel discussing IP. The panel consisted mainly of tech/libertarian pundits who do not take a principled propertarian stance on IP, and talking a lot about areas most of them are not specialized specialized in. The panelists bat around various ideas about IP but never oppose it in principle, and never adduce good arguments for it, either. This kind of discussion only confirms my view that There are N2 years ago Read more
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Blog postI’ve discussed before the IP stances of various older libertarians, classical liberal, and anarchist thinkers on IP (see The Four Historical Phases of IP Abolitionism, The Origins of Libertarian IP Abolitionism, The Death Throes of Pro-IP Libertarianism). I keep trying to add to this list. I’ll supplement this post from time to time, but here is some of what I’ve collected.1 I’m omitting more recent libertarians such as Rand and Galambos. These are sorted chronologically (2 years ago Read more
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Blog postThe August 8–14 2015 issue of The Economist has a great couple of pieces basically calling for abolition—or at least radical reform—of the patent system. The first is the leader, “Time to fix patents“; the second is the longer piece, “A question of utility.” The leader notes that “in 19th-century Britain,” The Economist sided with free-traders in calling for the complete abolition of the patent system. As the longer article explains:
THE Great Exhibition, staged in London in2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThe “Austrian Economics Center,” which claims to advocate “the ideas of the Austrian School of Economics” and to promote “a free, responsible and prosperous society,” “has joined the Property Rights Alliance (PRA) in an open letter to WIPO Director Dr. Francis Gurry in support of strong protections for all types of IP”.
A letter from Barbara Kolm, the Center’s Director, announcing this, stated:
As we consider free markets and economic growth in Europe we must reflect2 years ago Read more -
Blog post“For Intellectual Property: The Property Ideas of Andrew J. Galambos,” by Richard Boren, was recently published in The Voluntaryist.
Many IP advocates get upset when you accuse them of holding the view that ideas are property—that they think there should be property rights in “ideas”. Nonsense, they say—they are only in favor of property rights in “logos” or “instantiated ideas” or “inventions” or “works of authorship” but the notion that they favor property rights in ideas is ri2 years ago Read more -
Blog postNice article in The Freeman (from 2001) illustrating the pernicious effects of patents. Here, a patent on an early automobile design was used by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) to restrict competition in the auto industry. For a related episode, see Boldrin & Levine’s discussion of “how the Wright brothers used their patents to try to block the emergence of a US aircraft industry. Interestingly, this pattern of behavior continued. In 1972 the US gover2 years ago Read more
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Blog postFrom the Against Monopoly blog:
Killing people with patents Michele and I have long pointed out the human cost of pharmaceutical patents during the AIDS crisis in Africa (and were hardly the first to do so). Via Andy Neumeyer a new film documenting just how bad it was. Trailer here [Posted at 05/16/2015 12:18 AM by David K. Levine on Pharmaceutical Patents comments(0)]
See also:
Over Two Dozen Patent/FDA-caused Drug Shortage Patients File Suit Against HHS Intellectual Prop2 years ago Read more -
Blog postGreat new article by Matthew McCaffrey in The Freeman, “Are Markets Ruining Video Games? Or is intellectual property the real culprit?” (May 12, 2015).
Capitalism is ruining video games. So says game producer Lorne Lanning, creator of the Oddworld series, who recently sparked controversy by blasting economic developments in the gaming industry.
Lanning blames “capitalism” for gaming’s recent financial and artistic troubles, especially its emphasis on commer2 years ago Read more -
Blog postCourtesy of Andrew Torrance, mentioned in his 2011 Open Science Summit talk,1 a quote from this book: Patents in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Cohen & Merrill, eds. (2003) (Google books):
There are theoretical as well as empirical reasons to question whether patent rights advance innovation in a substantial way in most industries. …The literature on the impact of patents on innovation must be considered emergent. One reason is that the effect of patent policy ha2 years ago Read more -
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, buildin3 years ago Read more
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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 new3 years ago Read more -
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 whatever4 years ago Read more -
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, th4 years ago Read more -
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.
4 years ago Read more -
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:4 years ago Read more -
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 m4 years ago Read more
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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…
4 years ago Read more -
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,” Jou4 years ago Read more -
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 woul4 years ago Read more
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