Re:Why your next project should be public domain
by icebraining on Thursday July 11, 2013 @08:49AM
(#6025693)
If he thinks so little of software copyright because it's "old-fashioned" and cancer-ridden, shouldn't he think the same of physical property law?
There are perfectly valid reasons do disagree with physical private property, but repudiating copyright does not entail repudiating private property.
Physical goods have a significant difference, which makes property, if not indispensable, at least reasonably sensible: scarcity. Each tangible good is scarce, and its use by multiple people is conflictive. Property as an institution reduces conflict by determining who can use each good at any time. Copyrighted goods have no need for such mechanism - you can just create more.
There are perfectly valid reasons do disagree with physical private property, but repudiating copyright does not entail repudiating private property.
Physical goods have a significant difference, which makes property, if not indispensable, at least reasonably sensible: scarcity. Each tangible good is scarce, and its use by multiple people is conflictive. Property as an institution reduces conflict by determining who can use each good at any time. Copyrighted goods have no need for such mechanism - you can just create more.
See "Against Intellectual Property": http://mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf