KOL447 | Audio: Law and Intellectual Property in a Stateless Society
Nov 19, 2024
A reading explores whether patents and copyrights fit with libertarian property ideas. It questions whether creation can become ownership and whether information can be owned. The talk critiques utilitarian defenses and highlights studies on patents and innovation. It imagines markets without statutory IP and lists practical non-IP ways creators might earn revenue.
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IP Conflicts With Libertarian Property Theory
- Intellectual property has long been treated as a necessary part of property rights but this assumption deserves scrutiny.
- Stefan Kinsella argues IP is inconsistent with a private-property order and libertarian principles.
Property Rules Ground The Non-Aggression Principle
- Libertarian rights and the non-aggression principle reduce to property rules like self-ownership and homesteading.
- Kinsella uses these foundations to test whether IP can be justified within libertarian theory.
Homesteading Trumps Creation As Ownership Source
- Ownership of external things rests on homesteading, prior possession, or contractual transfer.
- Kinsella emphasizes an objective link (first-use transformation) as the legitimate basis of title.







