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"If patents for inventions were part of the free
market, to make and sustain them would not require legislation, constitutions,
bureaucracies, filings, armies of attorneys, and years of litigation." --
Jeffrey Tucker, https://www.fee.org/the_freeman/arena/intellectual-property-rights
Nonoy
Oplas This is simplistic thinking. One, physical assets like cars,
houses, shoes, laptops, etc. are part of the free market, and they require
legislation, constitution, bureaucracies.. And so IPRs are also part of the
free market, they are property rights that need respect and enforcement.
Two, private property rights can be enforced by the private sector or civil society, with or without govt penalties. If thieves and shoplifters are caught inside a mall, they are apprehended by private security guards, they can be photographed and their faces plastered in the mall in a wall of shame, other schemes. That is private punishment against violation of private property rights.
The same way, thieves of IPRs like patent, trademark and copyright can be penalized by an industry association, a civil society org. If someone sells burgers wrapped with fake McDo or Burger King wrappers and trademark, and the consumers get good poisoning, who will they sue -- (a) the orig McDo/BK, (b) the IPR thieves like those sellers, or (c) IPR abolitionists like Jeff Tucker? Obviously (a) and (c) will not accept responsibility so (b) must be prosecuted for misleading the public and consumers. If people get food poisoning after consuming food from the orig McDo/BK store, then they can be held accountable. But these companies take care of their trademark so carefully, they can assure the public of 0.00% possibility of food poisoning as they know the consequences of damaged brand and trademark.
IPR abolitionists like Tucker are just simplistic minded.
Nonoy
Oplas There was a case of a local burger shop named “Mang Donalds”
with logo somehow similar to MacDonald. The latter did not like this, so it
sued the former over trademark issue, the former later closed shop, resurfaced
as another food shop with a more unique name and encountered no legal issues,
prospered. IPR forces people to be more unique, more innovative and creative.
IPR abolition favors the lazy, un-imaginative and plain copycatters, http://funwithgovernment.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-intellectual-property-abolition-part_20.html
Stephen
P. Cutler Nice work, Nonoy. These kinds of discussions keep us, as
a nation, stronger. So many of us are intellectually lazy and just accept the
ideas of others without question. Or we make personal attacks against the
proponent of the idea,and fail to point out the weakness of that idea. THAT
should be the focus. Thanks, again.
