[ExI] intellectual property again.

[Dan]

But, as you know, contract-based anything would not apply to third parties. The scenario you cook up seems unlikely and would depend on luck: that almost all people in a society concur with a particular IP regime. Add to this, just what constitutes IP is unlikely to be agreed upon in enough cases that my guess is a bona fide free society would not have it or it'd be confined to small groups -- which is the equivalent of not having it. Also, even were many people to agree with this, this would only be them agreeing to something and not a ground for forcing others to comply.

And, yes, people can come to consensual arrangements that might look like IP, but they're not the same thing -- just as we can all agree to give away to charity anything we make over, say, $1 million. But that arrangement would not and should not bind others. Don't you agree? True IP would have to be like physical property: something that does bind third parties -- binds them from interfering in its use and disposal.

I think the case against IP from a natural rights perspective -- as given by libertarians like Kinsella -- is sound.

Regards,

Dan


----- Original Message ----
From: Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Tue, March 9, 2010 12:22:15 PM
Subject: Re: [ExI] intellectual property again.

2010/3/9 Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>:
>
> Regarding intellectual property (IP), there are disagreements amongst
> libertarians on this, though the more consistent libertarians tend to be
> anti-IP. Arguments about pragmatics on this -- i.e., what might happen if
> there's no IP protection in place -- tend to overlook actual evidence. Whole
> industries seem to flourish with no IP protection today (restaurants,
> fashion, etc.) and the main driver of IP protection today seems to be not to
> create new stuff, but to keep competitors out.

### You could have contract-based IP, even in a polycentric law
system. If it turned out that most law providers, in service to their
customers, offer IP protection, and the only way to avoid it is by
patronizing a marginal provider, or by not participating in social
interactions at all, would you be against IP?

Rafal
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