I am a libertarian in every sense except for IP, I just can’t fathom a world in which you toil at your notebook all day, week, month, year, etc and in the very end, when you finally get to show it to the world, someone else who’s more popular finds it and publishes it as their own. How is that ok?
I’ve been told that it is because you can’t own an idea since they are infinite, but how is this when every human has an expiry date, as well as the human race? You can only come up with a finite amount of ideas since all humans are finite, thus you should be able to own your ideas.
I’ve also been told that it would democratize media, but does this not just mean the death of cannon? I’m not saying that community-made, public domain projects where anyone can make anything and it’s cannon don’t work, but I think that all media can’t work that way. The reason why stories work is because they are the culmination of one mind’s nearly 100% cohesive ideas brought together. Why do you think most novels are written by one person most of the time? If everything became an SCP like project, it would be very boring. Also aren’t we as libertarians supposed to hate democracy, valuing monarchy over it? Does it not seem a little pragmatic or hypocritical?
What are we to do about stolen ideas? Since there is no system of IP protection, are people just allowed to take ideas other people made and take the credit and money for it? If I write a song and a family member steals the lyrics from me and release it as a hit single, making millions off of the words I wrote, is that ok?
What if someone outside of ancapistan has their idea stolen? Are they supposed to let this transgression of their “state-granted” IP rights go unpunished?
You might wonder “who would enforce this?” Would it not be the same private courts enforcing property rights?
Please give me your best arguments against IP rights, and keep in mind that all questions I may ask are in good faith. I’m genuinely interested, and willing to change my opinion on IP rights.
