Another Libertarian Argument Against Patents Bites the Dust
Libertarians and Austrians, including such organizations as the CATO Institute, Von Mises, and the Wall Street Journal, have put forth a number of arguments against patents and intellectual property. These arguments include that ideas (an invention is not just an idea, but I will let that go) are not scarce and therefore patents are not real property rights, patents are monopolies, patents inhibit the growth of technology, patents require the use of force to enforce one’s rights, patents are not natural rights and were not recognized as so by Locke and the founders, among other arguments. I have discussed most of these arguments earlier and will put the links in below. One of their favorite fall back arguments is that patents limit what I can do with my property. For instance, a patent for an airplane (Wright brothers) keeps me from using my own wood, mechanical linkages, engine, cloth, etc. and building an airplane with ailerons (and wing warping). This according to the libertarian argument is obviously absurd. After all it is my property.
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In every other case it is a second hander who has not done his due diligence and should not be rewarded for being lazy and taking credit for other people's work
Understandable. I am, like you, looking for the least painful political options... Most distressing.
Regards,
O.A.
One of the practical problems we have is that we do not have a good clearing mechanism for patent rights. I place the blame squarely on the anti-trust laws and leftist in the government. Good clearing mechanisms for patent rights were being developed in the US until the government started using anti-trust laws to attack these agreements.
Were you referring to me regarding Ted Cruz? I think so, but I'm not sure.
I haven't heard him talk much about social conservatism, although he
probably has. When called by political fundraising types, I have
hung up on them after saying that the Republican party is neither
libertarian nor conservative enough for me. I would consider myself
personally conservative, but I would govern more as a libertarian
(with the intellectual property exceptions noted by your husband).
Ted Cruz's defense of the Constitution and on fiscal sanity
has been consistently correct. I was surprised recently when
you (Khalling) noted Rand Paul's stance on the immigration
issue; your information was much appreciated, even if it wasn't
what I thought Rand Paul had previously expressed.
So are you morally obligated to search all the public records before or after you invent something? If before, then you haven't conceived of the invention yet and therefore cannot research it. If after, then the invention is something you thought of independently, and therefore it is a product of your mind.
Good points. However, don't you think that today's Libertarians also seem to be of a slightly different strain than those of the days when Rand commented? I still see some problems, but I believe they are less severe. What say you?
I would certainly agree on voting comfort level.
Regards,
O.A.
The market for any given product or service is going to consist of those who find value in that particular product or service. That market may be one individual or millions. If you have a product that sells to millions - especially if the margin is low - you may not necessarily care (or know) if a few of those millions make their own instead of buying yours, but you are still out that revenue. If on the other hand you only have a handful of customers, each one that builds their own instead of buying from you deprives you of a substantial portion of your business.
Further, if you use another's idea without compensating them - regardless of whose materials get used in the construction - isn't that in reality theft of their intellectual property? That's the argument and the fine line.
Actually, yes I think they have changed. Their are some prominent Austrian economists and libertarians who have argued for IP. Some have argued that IP should last forever, which Rand and I disagree with.
The simultaneous development of the Calculus by Leibniz and Newton is a simplification of the real story. The Calculus is not one thing, and was developed by many people. Here is a short history of the development of calculus http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/histo...
Interestingly enough some prominent Austrians argue that IP should last forever. Rand and I disagree and she has a great analysis of this in Capitalism the Unknown Idea.
Here is what Rand had to say about patents "Patents and copyrights are the legal implementation of the base of all property rights: a man’s right to the product of his mind.” (Rand, Ayn, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Signet, New York, 1967, p. 130)
You might want to take a look at what she says in Capitalism the Unknown Ideal. While I have some very minor disagreements with her, for someone who did not deal with patent she nails it.
You might remember that In Atlas Shrugged, a big part of the story is about Directive 10-289 and the theft of Rearden's metal.
Product of your mind - see trade secrets in the above comments. But if a patent has published, then no the invention is not the product of your mind. It is like someone squatting on someone else's farm saying I didn't know they were their. There are public records and your failure to research them does not make you innocent, it means your are either dishonest or stupid.
I am not sure I understand your second point. My assumption is that you mean if a second person uses the inventor's invention how are they depriving him of revenue or otherwise hurting them. Most infringers are not interested in producing one version for themselves and for most inventions no one would ever bother you if you did. But it you decided to sell the invention in the marketplace, then you are taking away the market from the inventor. The inventor is not able to recoup the cost of creating the invention, nor the large cost of getting it into the market, and the competitor is free loading off of their efforts.
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