[ExI] intellectual property again

JOSHUA JOB nanite1018 at gmail.com
Tue Mar 9 20:29:52 UTC 2010


On Mar 9, 2010, at 9:41 AM, Stefano Vaj wrote:
> So what? :-)
> 
> I would contend that the best approach, before embarking in
> ideological discussion upon whether IP is property, and whether
> property should be considered as a foundational principle, in the
> libertarian/objectivist sense, of any society we might wish to live
> in, should be to analyse the *efficiency* - in economic, but above all
> transhumanist respects - of the current IP system.
> 
> One would discover, for instance, that copyright, trademarks and
> patents are more different in nature from one another - for the better
> and the worse - than one might thing at first view.
> 
> And that paradoxical effects may exist that defeat in certain, albeit
> not all, circumstances, the purpose itself of IP (say, when innovation
> is stifled more than encouraged...).

Well, efficiency can only be judged in reference to a certain system of values, and so comes after those values. Property is, in my view, a necessary component for human life and all values, and so must come before efficiency. So, ideas of efficiency come after the principles upon which property is based. As I subscribe to an egoist morality, global efficiency is not a factor in the moral basis for property, since it isn't based on any sense of individualism but rather a collectivist viewpoint that what is "best for society" is what should be done.

On another note, I have limited knowledge of the IP system in place now, though I think the definition of what can be patented may be too large (for example, "unlocking" a phone that only has a screen by doing something specific on the screen, as in Apple's suit against HTC, which is a self-evident idea which required no real thought to come up with, and would lock out anyone from pretty much ever making a touchscreen based phone ever again). But if you actually create a new idea that was somehow original (and not blitheringly obvious to anyone with half a brain), then you should, in my view, be able to patent it.

Joshua Job
nanite1018 at gmail.com






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