Overview

• Intellectual property (IP) includes:
  • Copyright: Protects original works of authorship, such as books, music, films, art, and software.
  • Patents: Protect new inventions or processes that are novel, useful, and non-obvious.
  • Trademarks: Protect brand identifiers—names, logos, slogans—that distinguish goods or services.
  • Trade Secrets: Protect confidential business information (e.g., formulas, processes) that gives a competitive edge.
• The issue with IP is determining whether information, configurations of matter, or various arrangements are indeed a form of property. There may be no objectively correct answer to this question. As such, many people default to predicting which approach would most benefit society. However, the answer to that question is also subject to debate.
• Property rights are rooted in the idea that we own ourselves, from which it naturally follows that we own the things we peacefully acquire. The opposite is slavery.
• Most property is tangible: our bodies, our homes, our possessions, and money. When these things are taken from us via force or coercion, we no longer have them, and the Legal Principle is violated. Additionally, many intangible items have long been recognized as property, including licenses, franchise agreements, goodwill, internet domain names, stock options, computer software, and leasehold interests.
• In contrast, ‘intellectual’ property is that which has no tangible boundary, and when it is taken, the original owner still has full access to it. That’s why some argue that ‘copying is not theft’. But others argue that stealing someone’s idea deprives creatives and inventors of justly earned reward for their extensive work and investment.
• Because there is reasonable disagreement about whether information should be legally treated as property, like any such grey areas, the peaceful and proper solution is to let local communities decide.

Implications of letting local communities decide

Communities that accept information as property

• Advantages:
  • Such communities would benefit from more investment by companies that carefully guard their innovative secrets.
• Disadvantages:
  • Inherently arbitrary considerations that must be defined:
    • How long does the owner of IP get exclusive access to it? Copyright protection is currently granted for ~70 years, Patents for ~20 years, while Trademarks are typically indefinitely owned. There is no definitive answer to the question of how long one retains ownership of their intellectual property. So these periods of time must be defined.
    • Where to draw the line? For example, if I write and ‘own’ a song, do I own exclusive use of every note, the melody, the words, the chord sequences, or some combination of all of these?

Communities that reject information as property

• Advantages:
  • Such communities would be creatively liberated from having to worry about which ideas and information are off limits.
  • Companies may find this an attractive environment for innovation. Their valuable, innovative secrets can be protected by incentivizing employees not to leave or share the information (paying them in shares), and they can build in stealth mode until tangible competitive moats have been established.
  • As AI, synthetic biology, and other technologies advance, some people may take comfort that there is no risk that the DNA or computer chips in their bodies are the property of someone else; otherwise, the risk is a slippery slope towards slavery.
• Disadvantages:
  • Some companies may choose not to do business in those patent-free environments at all.
  • Some argue that the incentive to innovate could be extinguished, as others could immediately appropriate the fruits of that innovation and profit thereby.