Natural Intellectual Property Rights and the Public Domain

Modern Law Review 73 (2):208-239 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

No natural rights theory justifies strong intellectual property rights. More specifically, no theory within the entire domain of natural rights thinking – encompassing classical liberalism, libertarianism and left-libertarianism, in all their innumerable variants – coherently supports strengthening current intellectual property rights. Despite their many important differences, all these natural rights theories endorse some set of members of a common family of basic ethical precepts. These commitments include non-interference, fairness, non-worsening, consistency, universalisability, prior consent, self-ownership, self-governance, and the establishment of zones of autonomy. Such commitments have clear applications pertaining to the use and ownership of created ideas. I argue that each of these commitments require intellectual property rights to be substantially limited in scope, strength and duration. In this way the core mechanisms of natural rights thinking ensure a robust public domain and categorically rule out strong intellectual property rights.

Similar books and articles

On the Value of the Intellectual Commons.James Wilson - 2012 - In New Frontiers in the Philosophy of Intellectual Property.
A dilemma for libertarianism.Karl Widerquist - 2009 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 8 (1):43-72.
Liberalism and intellectual property rights.Hugh Breakey - 2009 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 8 (3):329-349.
Original acquisition of private property.L. Wenar - 1998 - Mind 107 (428):799-820.
Property rights and preservationist duties.Robert E. Goodin - 1990 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 33 (4):401 – 432.
User's Rights and the Public Domain.Hugh Breakey - 2010 - Intellectual Property Quarterly (3):312-23.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-09-12

Downloads
100 (#160,085)

6 months
8 (#157,827)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Hugh Edmond Breakey
Griffith University

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references