Intellectual Property Rights

There's been some debate lately about intellectual property rights on vaccines. On the one hand, there's the WHO and Biden administration pushing to waiver this right for plague related vaccines. On the other other side, there are politicians standing firm on the side of corporations.

An important thing to keep in mind when it comes to IP rights, is that there's nothing natural about them. These rights have no root in libertarian doctrine. Rather, they are inventions of government, aimed to privilege corporations at the expense of the little guy.

This can be demonstrated with an example. Let's say someone in a workshop somewhere is making copies of a popular handbag. That person is not intruding on anyone in doing this. Selling these copies to people isn't intrusive either, as long as it's clear that the bags are copies rather than originals. To sell them as originals would be fraud, and hence a violation of libertarian doctrine. But as long as everyone is informed about the origin of the copies, nobody is victim. The only supposed victim is the producers of the originals. However, this supposed victim can only enforce their supposed rights through violence towards the little guy in the workshop. Doors will have to be broken, hand bags must be confiscated, and the little guy must be arrested, fined and put in jail.

IP rights are in other words in direct opposition to property rights, and must therefore be tossed out as not belonging to libertarian doctrine. People making a living by inventing stuff and patenting them, or by writing books or making music must find other ways to protect their income than to resort to the violence of the state, and there are no lack of ways to do this. Performers can perform, and sell their recordings as originals, rather than copies. They can thus get the protection implicit in laws against fraud, and the support of fans and people looking for status. Industry can keep their production procedures secret. Authors can sell originals and orient themselves more towards performance. They can also look for sponsors.

The only entities that must rely on IP rights by necessity are large corporations, which makes it strangely amusing that corporate favourites such as the WHO and the Biden administration are backing a push to dismantle IP rights. It's as if the WHO and Biden don't understand their role in the world. They are sawing off the branch they are sitting on.

As for the liberty minded among us, we should keep out of the debate and let the big guys slog it out uninterrupted by us. As Napoleon once said: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Smallpox vaccine

By Photo Credit: James Gathany Content Providers(s): CDC - This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #2674. Note: Not all PHIL images are public domain; be sure to check copyright status and credit authors and content providers. Deutsch | English | македонски | slovenščina | +/−, Public Domain, Link