Norman Stephan Kinsella (; born 1965) is an American

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

attorney, author, and

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of Sovereign state, centralized states in favor of Stateless society, stateless societies, where systems of p ...

. His legal works have been published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Oceana Publications, Mises Institute, Quid Pro Books and others.

Education

Born in Prairieville, Louisiana, he attended

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

where he earned

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(BS) and

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

(MS) degrees in electrical engineering, and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

(JD) from the

Paul M. Hebert Law Center The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a Public university, public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because ...

(formerly known as LSU Law Center). He also obtained an LL.M. at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

Career

Kinsella was general counsel of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., of Sugar Land, Texas from 2000 to 2012 and is currently in private practice in Houston, Texas. He was formerly an adjunct scholar of the

Ludwig von Mises Institute The Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, that is a center for Austrian economics, right-wing libertarian thought and the paleolibertarian and anarcho ...

, a right-libertarian think-tank for the promotion of Rothbardian political thought and the

Austrian School The Austrian school is a Heterodox economics, heterodox Schools of economic thought, school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result primarily from the motivat ...

of economics, where he was Book Review Editor for the '' Journal of Libertarian Studies'' and a faculty member of the Mises Academy. Kinsella also founded the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom (C4SIF) of which he currently is the Director. In May 2022 he was elected to the Libertarian Party Judicial Committee, but was subsequently disqualified due to being two months short of the 4 year Libertarian Party membership requirement to hold the office. As of August 2022, he is eligible and it's believed that he'll be appointed by the LP Judicial Committee to fill the vacancy caused by his ineligible run in May 2022.

Publications

Kinsella's legal publications include books and articles about

law,

contract law A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more Party (law), parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, Service (economics), services, money, or pr ...

, e-commerce law,

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

, and other topics.

Views

Kinsella is a strong opponent of

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 ...

, arguing that patents and copyrights should not form part of a proper libertarian law code. He is a proponent of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's theory on argumentation ethics. He is an atheist, having previously been a devout Catholic.

Books

*
International Investment, Political Risk, and Dispute Resolution: A Practitioner's Guide
', Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2020) (with Noah D. Rubins and Thomas N. Papanastasiou) *
Louisiana Civil Law Dictionary
' (Quid Pro Books, 2011) (with Gregory Rome) *
Legal Foundations of a Free Society
' (Papinian Press, 2023) * ''Protecting Foreign Investment Under International Law: Legal Aspects of Political Risk''. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications. 1997. . (with Paul E. Comeaux) * ''Online Contract Formation''. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications. 2004. . . (with Andrew F. Simpson) *
Against Intellectual Property
'. Ludwig von Mises Institute. 2008. . * . (with Teresa C. Tucker, co-editor)

Articles

by Ilana Mercer, Stephan Kinsella, and James DeLong ('' Insight on the News'', 21 May 2001)
''Against Intellectual Property''
( Journal of Libertarian Studies, Spring 2001) olume 15, no. 2, p. 1–53

References

External links

KinsellaLaw
Kinsella's legal website
StephanKinsella.com
Kinsella's libertarian website

from LewRockwell.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinsella, Stephan 1965 births Living people American anarcho-capitalists American atheists American legal scholars American libertarians American male bloggers American bloggers Intellectual property activism Libertarian theorists Louisiana lawyers Louisiana State University alumni Mises Institute people American patent attorneys People from Prairieville, Louisiana American philosophers of law Texas lawyers