What are the arguments for and against intellectual property like patents, copyrights, etc?
I’ve been going back and forth on this one for years. On the one hand, anything you create should be yours. You can spend years writing a book, or filming a movie, only to have the content copied and sold. You can spend billions on research and development, only to have others immediately use your results
One the other hand, can anyone own an idea? Just because you came up with it first, does that mean you should be the only one allowed to use it? Doesn’t that stagnate innovation? I think Naval once said any book written for profit is not worth reading. The most groundbreaking authors write free books to complement their other content, and make money through other channels through their audience. Any business that develops a new product or method still gets a massive head start to market. Should they keep that advantage for 20, 40, sometimes 100 years?
So… is theft of IP wrong? Or is trying to use the state to create a monopoly around an idea wrong?
And putting aside the moral argument. Does the consumer win or lose with IP rights enforcement? Does innovation happen because of R&D that you can patent and profit? Or does innovation happen when everything is open source?
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