There is no Such Thing as “Intellectual Property”

Gregory Engels, Co-Chairman Pirate Parties InternationalInternational Liberty Conference, Milan 11-12 October 2010

Some Rights Reserved

• Copyright 2010 by Gregory Engels, Pirate Parties International. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License

“Even the good become pirates in a world where the rules seem absurd.”

Lawrence Lessing - Remix

Pirate Parties International

• Founded April 2010 in Brussels

• 22 Pirate Parties from 4 continents

• rapidly growing

Gregory Engels

• Co-Chairman of Pirate Party International

• Geek

• Live in Germany

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 17 

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property

But, Article 17 do not apply to “Intellectual

Property”

If “intellectual property” was the same or just a form of property, it would be matched by the article 17 of UDHR and the article 27.2 would not be necessary

Article 27 

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

• … the right to control the tenure

• … the right to exploit the property object

• … the right to destroy it

• … the right to modify it

• … the obligation not to use it harmful

• … assured by law

• … marketable

• … everlasting

Property is...

Property Principles

Occupation Principle“There is, however, no such thing as private ownership established by nature, but property becomes private either through long occupancy (as in the case of those who long ago settled in unoccupied territory) or through conquest (is in the case of those who took it in war) or by due process of law, bargain, or purchase, or by allotment.”

• There are goods out there

• They turn into Property by conquest (occupation)

Cicero: De officiis, I, 21 - 44BC

Labour Principle

John Locke: Two Treatises of Government, II, 32 - 1689

“As much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can use the product of, so much is his property. He by his labour does, as it were, inclose it from the common.”

• Everyone is entitled to use the goods of nature

• Property emerges through labour

• Limited in the capability of consumption

• Tied to the Lock’s freedom principle

Labour ex nihilo?• Common theme:

• one creates something “out of himself”

• his creation is his property

• This lead to a fundamental question:

• can one create something ex nihilo, out of himself?

• or is all he can is to adopt and modify what is already there?

• Condorcet vs. Fichte

The Labour principle by itself is absolutely not

sufficient to define Property

Categorical Imperative

Immanuel Kant: Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1785

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”

• Property is a relation between things, not humans

• The limitation of someone's rights needs his agreement

• The property emerges in the state through unified will of everyone

Scarcity Principle• based on Kant’s rationality

doctrine

• the use of something by a person / for a task, limit the usage by another person / task

• scarce goods have a price greater then zero, if the price would be zero, more would be consumed than there is.

• The scarcity leads to necessity of property to regulate conflicts around scarce goods

Property examples

Property - a mobile thing?

• Through occupation - possible. There are ownerless things in nature, that can be declared property

• Through labour - possible. It is possible to apply labour to things and in some case it lead to their creation (i.e. a quarry)

• Through Scarcity - possible. Movable things have usually a local, temporal and quantitative scarcity

Property - breathing air• Through occupation - possible. There is ownerless

breathing air in nature, it can be declared property

• Through labour - possible. It is possible to apply labour to air (i.e. to store it). But: can the labour be reversed? Otherwise - occupation through breathing.

• Through Scarcity - not possible. Air is (yet) plenty available. If it get scarce, it could be turned into property

“Now a nose full of Perri Air”President Skroob (“Spaceballs” 1987)

Property - land

• Through occupation - possible. There is land out there, it can be declared property or conquered

• Through labour - partially possible. Cultivation and construction creates property. It is not possible to own untouched land.

• Through Scarcity - possible. Land (especially locally) is scarce

“Intellectual Property”

“Intellectual Property”

• Through occupation - perhaps possible. Depends on the premise of information that is contained in nature

• Through labour - possible, but inconsistent. Same as above; Multiple acquisitions through parallel discoveries possible

• Through Scarcity - not possible. Information is not scarce

Classical Theories on “Intellectual Property”

The Theory of “Intellectual Property”• Application of Locke’s Labour theory to

written works (Locke himself never used the therm “intellectual property)

• An author is a owner of his own labour and therefor is the fruit of his labour (the creation) also his property

• This was criticized by Kant

Conclusions

• The Scarcity theory is the only one that hold ground

• We must accept the nature of information

• The propaganda term “Intellectual Property” is not to be used

• The question of Authorship is not explained by a mere dismissal of “intellectual property”

Material used• Andi Popp - “Warum Eigentum nicht geistig sein kann?” Presentation at the

OpenMind 2010 conference

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lochnessmonster.jpg - A “fair use” of the famous Loch Ness Monster hoax photograph

• Cicero by Bertel Thorvaldsen 1800 - public domain

• John Locke by Herman Verelst (died 1690) - copyright estinguished

• Immanuel Kant - stamp for 250 years of birth. - public domain

• Empty shelves - photo by Zabowski CC-BY-ND

• Thereasure hunt manilla (’59 Cadillac) - photo by Leap Kye CC-BY-ND

• Crooked "Private Property" Sign - photo by Jordan Meeter CC-BY-SA

• Christopher Schirner - photo of Gregory Engels CC-BY-SA

Sources and Links

• Pirate Party International: http://www.pp-international.net

• Universal Declaration on Human Rights

• Cicero: http://www.constitution.org/rom/de_officiis.htm

• John Locke: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Two_Treatises_of_Government/The_Second_Treatise_of_Government:_An_Essay_Concerning_the_True_Origin,_Extent,_and_End_of_Civil_Government

• Immanuel Kant: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Groundwork_of_the_Metaphysics_of_Morals

• Immanuel Kant: Von der Unrechtmäßigkeit des Büchernachdrucks

• Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Beweis der Unrechtmäßigkeit des Büchernachdrucks.

Contact

Gregory.Engels [௹] pp-international.net

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