Against Monopoly

defending the right to innovate

Monopoly corrupts. Absolute monopoly corrupts absolutely.

Don't Call Them "Pirates"

So says Big Copyright, which adopted the term for copyright infringers because of "its suggestions of theft, destruction, and violence." But now, the "pirates"have "co-opted the term, adopting it with gusto and hoisting the Jolly Roger across the Internet (The Pirate Bay being the most famous example)."

I agree. Copyright infringers should not be called pirates. A pirate is a robber, plunderor, predator. The term much better describes the patent and copyright lobbies, which use state monopoly grants to plunder and rob the masses.

[Mises; SK]

[Posted at 03/19/2010 05:19 AM by Stephan Kinsella on Piracy comments(15)]

Comments

Commenters in Techdirt were proposing utilizing "Content liberators" to name people who infringe. How about that? :D

[Comment at 03/19/2010 06:19 AM by MrSonPopo]

Firstly, 'Content' is a derogatory term for art (or intellectual work) used by manufacturers of copies for the raw material they use to fill copies with.

Secondly, art is not a human being and so it is not appropriate to anthropomorphise it by insinuating it could be liberated.

It is the individual pirates who assert their natural right to make copies by enjoying their cultural liberty counter to the privileged classes (copyright holders).

Pirate seems to be a most apposite term.

Pirate doesn't connote psychopath (unlike 'corporation').

Those who would reclaim their liberty can adopt the term 'pirate' with pride. I have - see: digitalproductions.co.uk/?q=pirate.

[Comment at 03/19/2010 08:34 AM by Crosbie Fitch]

I think of copyright and patents as infringement on my property rights.

If I have a block of aluminium and a CNC machine there are certain shapes that I am not legally allowed to machine out of that block. But it's my tools and my aluminium so clearly it's my rights that are being infringed upon.

[Comment at 04/02/2010 03:20 AM by Markus G.]

such a "pirate" needs term paper help each beginning of the year)

[Comment at 04/08/2010 07:21 AM by nigel]

Why are all the new comments for the last few days meaningless mentions of term papers that don't seem to discuss the actual topics?

What the hell has happened to this site, anyway? It's suddenly nearly dead. Did the big three-way flamewar among Beeswax, Lonnie, and propatentuiq scare everybody off or something?

[Comment at 04/08/2010 08:58 AM by Nobody Nowhere]

I never thought about this problem this way but I think your right. The "pirate" title might actually assign a certain prestige to these guys. What do you suppose we labels these guys? We have some of these guys running around The Woodlands Texas

[Comment at 04/26/2010 07:34 PM by Jarrod]

Thanks a lot for Sharing! Great Article! Kredit

[Comment at 05/24/2010 11:34 PM by Peterpy]

Yes you're right. But you know, the big one prefer considering that we are all pirates...

Scrabble Solver

[Comment at 06/23/2010 10:08 AM by karl]

I was never overly happy with the term pirate, but I guess we're stuck with it now. Mark @ debt help

[Comment at 06/24/2010 12:04 PM by Mark]

i was never overly happy with the term pirate, but I guess we're stuck with it now Giochi Gratis

[Comment at 11/08/2010 12:16 PM by alex]

'Content' is a derogatory term for art (or intellectual work) used by manufacturers of copies for the raw material they use to fill copies with. Giochi Di Cucina

[Comment at 01/08/2011 05:27 AM by Alex]

[Comment at 03/01/2011 06:50 AM by Robert]

If I have a block of aluminium and a CNC machine there are certain shapes that I am not legally allowed to machine out of that block Assicurazione Auto

[Comment at 03/01/2011 06:51 AM by Robert]

Did the big three-way flamewar among Beeswax, Lonnie, and propatentuiq scare everybody off or something? essay help

[Comment at 04/10/2011 11:30 PM by Hanna]

very interesting article! I will follow your themes. Can I subscribe to your posts on Twitter or on your Facebook profile?

[Comment at 10/14/2011 01:42 AM by essay help]

Submit Comment

Blog Post

Economics Lessons | Add your site

Most Recent Comments

3D Printing Groundnut: The first available 3D printers were produced in the early 1980s. Because those

at 06/03/2013 10:55 AM by Anonymous

3D Printing You were aware, I hope, that the popularization of 3D printing is happening now, rather than 20

at 06/01/2013 12:43 AM by groundnut gallery

Catching Up The Ruth Lewis post is interesting, but incomplete. The very economies that are supposedly

at 01/31/2013 07:21 AM by Anonymous

Canada - A Copyright Year in Review Hello. I don't like copyright law but I don't think it will go away in my life. I started a

at 01/02/2013 04:58 AM by Sabrina

Canada - A Copyright Year in Review Regarding the Copyright Act revision, let it be known that there was substantial opposition to the

at 12/28/2012 06:57 AM by Byte

From the Trenches Innovative remarks indeed. Cecil Quillen suggests the system needs to be modified, which I think

at 12/21/2012 06:18 PM by Anonymous

The golden age of beer innovation ""Perhaps the first reason [for the rate of patenting] is that during this period the rate of

at 12/20/2012 05:46 PM by Anonymous

Obama Transition Team Member on Holy cow. None of Your Beeswax is a Canadian (Laurier Optical is Canadian only). You don't even

at 12/19/2012 06:08 PM by Anonymous

The golden age of beer innovation Adam_Smith: Until the latter half of the 19th century, corporations routinely filed for patents,

at 12/19/2012 04:54 PM by Brewing Is Fun

The golden age of beer innovation It would seem from the account given in the previous comment that it was innovation that stimulated

at 12/19/2012 04:04 AM by Adam_Smith

Would books be published without copyright? taxpayer: "The Wealth of Nations" went through five editions in the first 13 years of publication,

at 12/05/2012 08:31 AM by Anonymous

Would books be published without copyright? I was wondering whether free-market advocate Adam Smith made much money from his books. On-line

at 12/04/2012 09:59 AM by taxpayer

Open Book Publisher Great work! Here's my quick review of the book: It seems to me that behavioral economists

at 11/27/2012 08:38 PM by Aaron Wolf

250000 Patents for Smartphone Technology Hi. Sorry for posting here as I cannot see a contact us section. How can I contact you? I have

at 11/27/2012 10:17 AM by Thomas Stringer

The golden age of beer innovation With respect to the beer innovation paper, I have to wonder whether the authors were overly focused

at 11/23/2012 08:31 AM by Brewing Is Fun

The golden age of beer innovation With respect to Christian's comment that "there was rapid innovation without recourse to patents,"

at 11/21/2012 03:16 PM by Beer Innovation

250000 Patents for Smartphone Technology I have seen several analysts who believe that the number of patents in this area indicate that our

at 10/24/2012 08:40 AM by Anonymous

Would books be published without copyright? Gael: I would be curious as to how much copyright litigation is costing. I have never seen any

at 10/19/2012 01:12 PM by Anonymous

Would books be published without copyright? I think it's going to evolve towards a better system with or without copyright. Right now copyright

at 10/19/2012 11:46 AM by Gael N.

Patents and Secrecy Of course patents are not the "only" answer. That is just plain dumb. There are multiple business

at 10/13/2012 08:47 AM by Anonymous

Book List

Boldrin and Levine Against Intellectual Monopoly

Stephan Kinsella Against Intellectual Property

The IP Policy Wiki