My entry to this thread, a
link demonstrating how patents harm rather than help pharmaceutical development, fell on the deaf ears of its principal satanic advocate but was of some utility to other participants.
The conversation has since shifted to copyright, and our rogue now claims that a publication monopoly is necessary for creative works. This opinion is also non-factual, and
smarter men then ey people have thought about and documented an answer to the question of how original content can be rewarded in a world without copyright.
We introduce the Street Performer Protocol, an electronic-commerce mechanism to facilitate the private fi nancing of public works.
Trademark, too, has been addressed. Others have asserted this here already, but to reiterate (emphasis mine):
It seems to me that the primary justification for trademark rights is based on the notion of fraudthat the infringer is defrauding his customers by misrepresenting his identity and the source of the goods being sold (see pp. 43-44 of my
Against Intellectual Property, pp. 59-63 of
Reply to Van Dun: Non-Aggression and Title Transfer, p. 34 of
A Theory of Contracts: Binding Promises, Title Transfer, and Inalienability).
This would give a cause of action to customers, however, not to the holder of the mark, who is not defrauded. Now just as some a class representative is given the right to sue on behalf of the whole class in a class action lawsuit for efficiency/incentive reasons, the more law-and-economics minded types might say that the right to sue for such consumer fraud ought to be transferred from the diffuse group of defrauded customers, to the trademark holder himself. That is, the trademark user can sue infringers, but his right to do this is based on the right of customers fraud cause of action.
, the author of that last quote, has also written and made publicly available a detailed but still short (under 60 pages) explanation of how Intellectual Property is an inconsistent system and violates tangible property rights:
Against Intellectual Property. I have no expectations regarding Hawker, but believe it will be valuable here nonetheless.
Edit: retracted an unnecessary snipe.