From: MB
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2016 10:19 PM
To: walter block
Subject: Libertarianism
Hi, Dr. Block, I have a couple of questions.
1. Can one deduce property rights from the right to self-ownership and self-ownership alone? Similarly, can one logically deduce a theory of homesteading from this?
2. Under the title-transfer theory of contract, ought it to be valid to exchange a part of something while it is inexorably linked to another? As an example, would it be valid to sell an iPad, but retain ownership of the screen and only let the customer have custody of the screen until he saw fit? If so, why is it not valid to have copyright, if the seller says that he retains the title to the hard drive or the storage media where copyrighted materials are stored, and you are only licensed to copy files that are not stored in some ‘copyright’ database that the seller retains? Thanks, MB Dear MB:
With regard to your first set of questions, I answer yes to both. The scholars who have done more good work than anyone else on these sorts of questions are John Locke, Murray Rothbard, Hans Hoppe and Stephan Kinsella. I suggest you read them on these matters. As to the second, I am a Kinsellian on intellectual property. As I understand him, a copyright contract is licit, but it only binds the contracting parties, no one else. I urge you to read from this bibliography:
Block, 2013; Boldrin and Levine, 2008; De Wachter, 2013; Kinsella, 2001, 2012; Long, 1995; Menell, 2007A, 2007B; Mukherjee and Block, 2012; Navabi, 2015; Palmer, 1989.
Block, Walter E. 2013. Defending the Undefendable II: Freedom in all realms; Terra Libertas Publishing House; isbn: 978-1-908089-37-3; http://store.mises.org/Defending-the-Undefendable-2-P10932.aspx
Boldrin, Michele & David K. Levine. 2008. Against Intellectual Monopoly. http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm; http://mises.org/store/Against-Intellectual-Monopoly-P552.aspx
De Wachter, Joren. 2013. “IP is a thought crime.” at TEDxLeuven. June 6;
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2001. “Against Intellectual Property,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter, pp. 1-53; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2001. “Against Intellectual Property,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter, pp. 1-53; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2012. “Economic Freedom of the World Rankings and Intellectual Property: The United States’ Bad Ranking is Even Worse Than Reported.” http://c4sif.org/2012/09/economic-freedom-of-the-world-indexes-and-intellectual-property-the-united-states-bad-ranking-is-even-worse-than-reported/
Long, Roderick. 1995. “The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights.” Formulations. Vol. 3, No. 1, Autumn; http://libertariannation.org/a/f31l1.html
Menell, Peter S. 2007. “Intellectual Property and the Property Rights Movement.” Regulation, Fall; http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv30n3/v30n3-6.pdf
Menell, Peter S. 2007. “The Property Rights Movement’s Embrace of Intellectual Property: True Love or Doomed Relationship?” Ecology Law Quarterly, Vol. 34.
Mukherjee, Jay and Walter E. Block. 2012. “Libertarians and the Catholic Church on Intellectual Property Laws.” Journal of Political Philosophy Las Torres de Lucca. Issue No. 1, July-December, pp. 59-75;
http://www.lastorresdelucca.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=93:libertarios-y-la-iglesia-católica-en-las-leyes-de-propiedad-intelectual&Itemid=24&lang=en&Itemid=23
Navabi, Ash. 2015. “To Taylor, Love Freedom.” June 23;
https://mises.ca/posts/blog/to-taylor-love-freedom/
Palmer, Tom. 1989. “Intellectual Property: A Non-Posnerian Law and Economics Approach” Hamline Law Review, Spring, Vol 12 No. 2.
11:16 am on October 5, 2016
