[RANT]
IP protects profitability of the soft-power weapons of this sophisticated Empire - it's cultural exports. Even if we wanted to, we could not get rid of IP laws without getting rid of the Empire first. But if the question is whether the economy would be better off without IP laws, an argument can be made both ways. The argument you might not have heard before has to do with imagining what funding of creative works would be like if there was no intellectual property protection. Instead of George Lucas making a cut from theater tickets, DVD sales, pay-per-view, etc, his fans would need to get together and form a fund to encourage him to make his Star Wars movies... Does that make sense to anyone? I thought not...
[/RANT]
It makes sense to me.
George Lucas makes a movie. He spends $X doing so. The value of X is irrelevent, since he had complete control over it's value.
He's done with the movie, lays back, and rakes in the profits from DVD sales. And profits
indefinitely from doing so. Think about that. It doesn't matter how big X was that he spent to make on it. He and his descendents could potentially profit FOREVER from that one creative act, depending on the grace of the state. And if fans are downloading the movie, there's not even any relevent cost-per-unit to speak of. It's all gravy.
What real, tangible material good works in that way? None. There is no other way possible to do work once, and get paid forever, except for the state to dictate that it must be so done. That alone tells me that IP isn't real property, and that treating it like real property is trouble.
What real property can be sold once and--in the absense of any contractual agreement with anyone--can then grant you, quite literally, partial control over the notepads, printing presses, computers, and even bodies of everyone else in the nation?
I'm not against IP because Hollywood makes an obscene amount of money (although they do) or because I want to rip off Tom Clancy's work (I don't). I'm against it because it doesn't make sense to treat it like real property--because it's
not.
-Wayne