[CS-FSLUG] IP: Economics of Abolishing Copyright

[Fred A. Miller]

Ed Hurst wrote:
> While Economics might be peripheral to the discussion of FOSS or Faith,
> the subject of Intellectual Property is quite central. There is a newly
> published book on the subject (which I can't afford right now): _Against
> Intellectual Monopoly_, by Michele Boldrin and David Levine. There have
> been several reviews of it, but I believe this one presents the case best:
> 
> The New Frontier in IP
> by Jeffrey A. Tucker
> http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker123.html
> 
> "This is one reason that this book is so important. And sensing that
> they are taking on more than just the problem of digital downloads, they
> put this ancient history up front. They take the first crack at
> revisionist history with regard to a famous patent.
> 
> "They show that most of Watt's energies were spent lobbying for and
> defending a government patent on a technology that was quickly surpassed
> but could not come to market thanks to his rent-seeking behavior. Nor
> was this patent somehow necessary for his economically useful behavior.
> It wasn*t until after the patent expired that steam engine technology
> really took off, but by that time the Industrial Revolution gave up
> 10-15 years of what might have otherwise been economic progress....
> 
> "The question is whether creators should have a right to dictate how
> purchasers use a creation. To say they should amounts to a claim not of
> property rights but of 'intellectual property.' It confers a privilege
> and restricts third parties in what they can do with property. It is a
> grant of monopoly privilege. Monopolies are not friends of innovation in 
> any area of life."

I believe that MickySoft has done this to some extent anyway.

> The reviews I've seen so far don't mention any moral issues. However,
> they all assume without question the basic moral good of sharing things
> which help others. Perhaps we could cast it this way: God gave you a
> brilliant idea. He did not intend for you to hoard it unto yourself, but
> to bless others. My problem with the whole thing is, I don't see a
> better way of keeping someone else from stealing your idea, putting
> their name on it, and using some advantage they have to market it better
> and make all the money from it. Then again, what little creative work
> I've done was never meant for profit. I don't suppose there's any one
> simple answer for applying the arguments to everything it might cover.

Don't look to me for an answer. I've been pondering this for awhile now,
and still have mixed views.

Fred

-- 
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong
enough to take everything you have.
 -Thomas Jefferson