Intellectual Property: Stephan Kinsella - an Interesting Critique

If you have 15 minutes to spare (which I don't really have but have just spent them anyway) you may like to listen to a podcast interview by US libertarian writer Lew Rockwell of a US libertarian IP lawyer called Stephan Kinsella. As you can see from his CV Mr Kinsella is a serious IP lawyer and a prolific writer. Interestingly, he has a higher degree from King's College London. Essentially his thesis is that IP is inherently obtrusive and requries the suppression of other legal rights. He seems to suggest that contract can provide effective proteciton and hence incentive for innovation and creativity.   I am sure that he will be rubbished by the great and the good but having seen the effectiveness of the US software and entertainment industries in the consultation on the implementation of the enforcement directive at the IP Office some time ago and having advised and represented a lot of pretty harmless small British businesses against some massive claims some US based software giants recently, it is refreshing to hear people like Mr. Kinsella from the other side of the Atlantic.

Comments

Stephan Kinsella said…
Thanks for the nice comments, Jane. More detailed discussion of these issues can be found on my libertarian publications page; see also my monograph Against Intellectual Property; and my speech and presentation, The Intellectual Property Quagmire, or, The Perils of Libertarian Creationism.
20:44
Anonymous said…
Stephan,

I’ve reviewed your podcast.

You are talking out of you backside.

I am hardly able to contain my ire hearing such drivel. Basically, you think that people who are able to create wealth and progress are scum who should bow down to the perpetual elite of the capital owing class.

I hope you and your family don’t ever feel the backlash of your backward ideology, I really do.

DeepThunk
00:59
Anonymous said…
@Mr. Kinsella:

Thank you for your interesting statements in the mentioned book!

@anonymous: Instead of arguing you are just mean and unpolite. Is that part of your "intellectual property"? ;)
07:40
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Copyright in Photographs: Temple Island Collections and Creation Records

Image
In our very first NIPC newsletter which we published in June 1997 I wrote a case note on Mr. Justice Lloyd's decision in  Creation Records Ltd. and Others v News Group Newspapers Ltd   [1997] EMLR 444, [1997] EWHC Ch 370, (1997) 16 Tr LR 544. In that case Mr. Noel Gallagher of Oasis and others applied for an interlocutory injunction to restrain The Sun from offering for sale and selling a poster of Oasis that featured a photo of an elaborate set that included a white Rolls Royce in a country club swimming pool. The Sun's photograph was very similar to the photograph that appeared on an Oasis album cover. The similarity arose because The Sun's photographer shot the same scene at roughly the same time and from the same angle as Mr. Gallagher's photographer but he did not reproduce any part of Oasis's print or negative. The learned judge held that the plaintiffs had no arguable case for infringement of copyright though he accepted that they had an arguable case for br...
Read more

"What is meant by "Due Cause" in s.10 (3) of the Trade Marks Act? The Red Bull Case

Image
Amsterdam   Source Wikipedia According to Wikipedia  Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 5.2 billion cans sold in 2012. Its manufacturer, Red Bull GmbH , has registered the RED BULL mark has registered those words and their accompanying logo as word and device marks in trade mark registries around the world including the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property ( "BOIP" ) . The company registered that sign with BOIP for non-alcoholic drinks in class 32 with effect from 11 July 1983. After decades of massive sales and extensive advertising nobody could argue that that mark has a reputation within the meaning of art 5 (2) of the Trade Marks Directive (Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 October 2008   to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks OJ 8.11.2008 p 299/25).  S.10 (3) of our Trade Marks Act 1994   implements that provision. There is in the Net...
Read more

Copyright: Creation Records Ltd. v News Group

It is trite law that if two photographers take identical pictures of the same scene at the same time from the same position each of their photographs is an original work and neither infringes the copyright in the other. However, much of the skill of a photographer lies in his choice of subject and the arrangement of the scene. The question whether copyright subsists independently in such an arrangement arose in Creation Records Ltd. v News Group Newspapers Ltd . (1997) The Times 27 April.   The Facts A swimming pool at a country club was drained and various props including a white Rolls Royce motor car assembled for a photograph of a well-known group of musicians for reproduction on their album cover. Although the public was not admitted to the session certain fans of the group who happened to be there were allowed to photograph the scene before official pictures were taken. A freelance photographer who was booked into the club photographed the scene during the session. One of his pict...
Read more