"The duality of intellectual property is that it is a source of wealth and a source of an equal and opposite cost. That is, IP brings wealth only through a hidden tax whether on competitors or consumers. So it is with IP rights, they inherently set up a tension between the pharmaceutical company enforcing rights and the patients wanting greater (read: less costly) access to medicine. A technology company wants to build and market a product but is forced to pay licensing fees to a patent holder."
What is bizarre here is the blithe assumption that the costs of IP are "equal and opposite" to its benefits. First, they can never be equal, due to the subjective, ordinal, and interpersonally incomparable nature of value. Second, even if they can be compared, there's no reason to think that they are equal--one is likely to be greater than the other. Third, even if you assume they are equal--then why have an IP system? I mean why even bother, if it all balances out? (See my There's No Such Thing as a Free Patent; What are the Costs of the Patent System?)
But even though they acknowledge the system has costs that might offset or even exceed the purported benefits, do they want to probe into whether IP is legitimate or should exist? No, explicitly not: "This book is not about what the IP should be or how it could be changed but is about how to survive in a global system when IP rights have developed."
Ah well, baby steps.
[Cross-posted at Mises Blog.]
