Post
Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Re: Hardcore libertarians: explain your anti-IP-rights position to me.
by
Sigma
on 24/06/2011, 04:20:43 UTC
By claiming intellectual property rights on the data in the book or CD or game I bought, you are claiming partial ownership of my property. That violates my property rights. I bought it, and I bought the whole thing, Data included.
Suppose I offer to sell you a car for $1,500. Then I say, "I tell you what, you can have it for $1,200, but if you drive it on a Saturday between 2AM and 3AM local time, you must pay me $15." Is that enforceable?

You bought whatever your agreement with the seller says you bought. That agreement includes the laws of your jurisdiction unless you negotiate otherwise.


I think the equivalent real situation you are trying to get at is that companies can wrap agreements in their products. What is different is that these wrappers are usually not signed by the purchaser, and not made clear prior to purchase and opening of the product. This would be like sticking this contract in the glovebox of the car and then claiming you agreed without any prior notification.

Perhaps you are being real and assuming someone would take those contracts for the car. This doesn't happen because there is no need and someone would simply rather sell the product. This has usually not happened with IP related materials up until very recently. This is happening now because IP is different than a normal product like a car and the producers of it need to come up with some way of keeping control of the profit chain, even though technology has moved past that ability.