[765] in libertarians
Re: Intellectual property
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kevin THEOBALD)
Sat Feb 25 13:17:23 1995
From: theobald@duke.cs.mcgill.ca (Kevin THEOBALD)
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 13:13:06 -0500
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
| > So if you believe that intellectual property is an attempt "to thwart
| > competition," how would eliminating it increase competition?
|
| Because someone who can produce a cheaper or better product
| would not be forbidden to do so. This is a similar argument as
| anti-tariff, it's obvious.
|
| > Many products require great expenditures to invent, but relatively
| > little to copy. Why would anyone bother to spend the effort to invent
| > something that a competitor could then knock off for free?
|
| Why does an investment in development translate into a
| guarantee of utility? And a monopoly at that. You're making a SOCIAL
| argument, that the greater good is best served by a grant of monopoly
| from the government (and I thought Libertarians didn't like those ...)
Usually we don't. I was arguing on *your* terms, since you suggested that
eliminating intellectual property rights would increase competition. That
is a social argument. Sometimes, libertarians will, for the sake of
argument, adopt the other side`s premises if they can show that the other
side's program will fail to meet its own goals. In this case, eliminating
intellectual property rights would reduce competition, at least in new
products, since there would be little over which to compete.
|
| > But the flaws in the system don't necessarily imply that intellectual
| > property per se should be eliminated.
|
| Is it a *right*, or simply advocated as a system to encourage a
| particular form of development (for the overall good of society?!)? The
| implications are very different. If you believe in software patents,
| then the logical consequence is to regard Phil Zimmerman as a horrendous
| criminal (as some people do - NOT for the export issue, over the RSA
| patent). This is why I keep stressing that this case has to do with
| software patents and intellectual property, not government invasion of
| privacy. The export regulations are just the tool James Bidzos used to
| "get" Zimmerman.
Can we first agree on what we are going to debate? Sometimes you attack
"intellectual property" and other times you just attack "software patents."
If you support the former but not the latter, fine. I haven't heard anyone
on this list defend the current system in its totality. Even those who
defend patents in general have opined that many of them are too broad or
meritless.
If you oppose intellectual property in general, then there's no point in
talking about software patents, because we have a more fundamental
disagreement. Should I be allowed to copy a book and sell the copies?
Should I be able to buy software, and sell copies to my friends for half
price?
| > You should read some libertarian journalism. It is full of stories about
| > businesses (usually big) using government power to stifle competition.
|
| Great - can you point me at some good articles?
Sorry, I don't have access to much lib literature in Canada. Anyone on
this list know any good examples? I would suggest looking through back
issues of Reason (in Hayden, last time I looked). I remember an article
around 1984 about a citrus industry group in California that basically
regulates the market for the good of the growers, and how they went after
a grower for giving his "surplus" oranges to the poor rather than destroying
them. (The cover of that issue was a picture of a huge mountain of oranges.)
There was one a few years later about a guy who invented a machine for
breaking eggs (to be used in restaurants) and how egg industry groups
manufactured health concerns to squash his product. There were a lot
of smaller articles, but this kind of thing is such a common occurrence
that I only remember the articles with an unusual twist, like the oranges.
Kevin Theobald
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| Well, like they say: Live and learn -- die and teach the gene pool. |
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