Libertarian Perspectives On Intellectual Property

Libertarians have differing opinions on the validity of intellectual property. Most left-libertarians oppose it whereas among propertarians/ right-libertarians and libertarian parties there is more nuance, ranging from strong opposition to neutrality and support (particularly from those who are influenced by Ayn Rand's views).

Left-libertarianism

Most left-libertarians, dating back to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (a libertarian socialist who is considered "the father of anarchism"), oppose intellectual property as part of their broad criticism of capitalism and anti-capitalism. Benjamin Tucker, a 19th-century American individualist anarchist opposing intellectual property, argued that "the patent monopoly consists in protecting inventors against competition for a period long enough to extort from the people a reward enormously in excess of the labor measure of their services,in other words, in giving certain people a right of property for a term of years in laws and facts of Nature, and the power to exact tribute from others for the use of this natural wealth, which should be open to all." Lysander Spooner, another 19th-century American individualist anarchist or left-libertarian who also influenced propertarians/right-libertarians, argued for some forms of intellectual property, I
"Classical Liberals and Anarchists on Intellectual Property"
Kinsella lists anarchists, classical liberals, anarcho-capitalists, and American libertarians and their positions on intellectual property. I
"Pro-IP "Anarchists" and anti-IP Patent Attorneys"
Kinsella lists further anarcho-capitalists in favor of intellectual property. For further discussion of the views of various libertarians on this matter, see hi
"Anti-IP Resources""The Four Historical Phases of IP Abolitionism"
an
"The Origins of Libertarian IP Abolitionism"
while Henry George distinguished between patents and copyrights.

Into the 21st century, Roderick T. Long argues that the concept of intellectual property is not libertarian. He holds that prohibiting people from using, reproducing, and trading copyrighted material is an infringement of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and that since information exists in people's minds and other people's property, one cannot own information without owning other people. Arguing that authors and publishers would continue to produce absent copyright protection, he cites the fact that hundreds of thousands of articles are uploaded onto the Internet by their authors every day, available to anyone in the world for free and that nearly all works written before the 20th century are in the public domain, yet pre-1900 works are still published and sold.

Propertarianism/Right-libertarianism

Anarcho-capitalists oppose the existence of even a minimal state. This ideological framework requires that any functions served by intellectual property law promulgation and enforcement be provided through private sector institutions. Murray Rothbard argued for allowing contractually arising infinite copyright terms and against the need for any government role in protecting intellectual property. Rothbard states that government's involvement in defining arbitrary limits on the duration and scope of intellectual property in order to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" is inherently problematic, saying: "By what standard do you judge that research expenditures are 'too much,' 'too little,' or just about enough?" Thus, he argued that intellectual property laws can actually hinder innovation since competitors can be indefinitely discouraged from further research expenditures in the general area covered by the patent because the courts may hold their improvements as infringements on the previous patent and the patent holder is discouraged from engaging in further research in this field because the privilege discourages improvement of their invention for the entire period of the patent, with the assurance that no competitor can trespass on their domain.

Morris and Linda Tannehill proposed that ideas in the form of inventions could be registered in a privately owned "data bank". The inventor could then buy insurance against the theft and unauthorized commercial use of the invention and the insurance company would guarantee to not only compensate the inventor for any losses suffered due to such infringement but to stop such unauthorized use. Opponents to intellectual property rights include Wendy McElroy, Tom G. Palmer, Henri Lepage, Boudewijn Bouckaert, Jeffrey Tucker, and Stephan Kinsella. Kinsella observes in ''Against Intellectual Property'' that patents may be inefficient since they divert resources from research and development to patent filing and lawsuits. He writes that theoretical research can not be patented as easily as practical research and thus theoretical research is relatively underfunded. Moreover, he argues that property rights can only apply to resources that are scarce, which intellectual property is not. Kinsella also states that the only way that intellectual property rights can be implemented is by limiting others' physical property rights. David D. Friedman takes a neutral stance on intellectual property, arguing that "there are good arguments on both sides of that question". J. Neil Schulman instead argued in favor of intellectual property.

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand, the founder of Objectivism who herself was not a libertarian but who had a significant influence on Rothbard (prior to his department from her philosophical studies circle) and other right-libertarians, supported copyrights and patents. In '' Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal'', she wrote:

Rand held that patent should be granted for limited terms only. She wrote:

Libertarian political parties

The Libertarian Party of Canada takes "a moderate approach to patents and copyrights", calling for "a careful review of existing and proposed legislation". The Libertarian Party of Russia writes in its platform that "intellectual property" is a privilege granted by the state. Accordingly, "intellectual property rights" are enforced by the state through violence. On this basis, it writes in its program that it intends to repeal the section of the Civil Code of Russia, as well as the articles of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses and Criminal Code of Russia that provide for sanctions for infringement of "intellectual property rights".

See also

* Copyleft
* Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Libertarian Perspectives On Intellectual Property
Intellectual property
Economics of intellectual property
Intellectual property activism
Intellectual property law