Stephan Kinsella has cast doubt on the legitimacy of intellectual property (PDF).
Today, Slashdot describes moves by the U.S. to establish a global intellectual-property plan. Murray Rothbard argued that (real) property rights were universal but should be locally enforced. Do these creepy global initiatives (like the “Global Intellectual Property Rights Academy”) suggest that intellectual property rights cannot be locally enforced and therefore are questionable? Could it be, on the other hand, that the U.S. need not go galactic on this issue and that intellectual property rights really could be locally enforced? If a man cut off from civilization in the middle of a forest quietly re-invents the mouse trap is it a patent violation? Do we need global cops to find him and stop him?
