Is IP Property?

An anonymous reader writes "In a recent article, Stanford Law Professor Mark Lemley argues that intellectual property is not 'property' in the traditional sense. According to Lemley, while 'free riding' off of someone else's land or other physical property rights is always undesirable, freely benefitting from someone else's intellectual property rights is often the best way to form a free and creative society. Lemley's distinction also points to the unusual fact that in IP, traditional liberals are often calling for less and less government, while conservatives demand regulation in order to protect their exclusive right to use their intellectual creations."

Comments

Re:I think no

[Phixxr]

Bring that patent over here... I'll smash, steal, set fire to and urinate on it... _Phixxr :)

Re:I think no

[stratjakt]

It's an election year.

Seems as though "respected academics" can't resist a soap box.

Who signed in the DMCA and Sonny Bono acts? Damn you cold hearted Bush republi--- huh?

Re:I think no

[Anonymous Coward]

have to agree. asshole senator fritz was a democrat. same with that bitch feinstein. now, of course, orrin hatch is the worst of them all, and he's a republican. selling out is bipartisan.

Re:Removing motivation to create innovative IP

[millahtime]

It matters to me. I am an engineer. IP is important to me and my livelyhood. No IP means make no money, means me poor and can't afford to be on net much less /.

Re:Gravity

[stratjakt]

That's OK, Einstein came up with an independant (and superior) reimplementation of gravity.

I like to think what the world would look like if Pythagoras had patented his theorum. Think about it! No more diagonal lines!

Or if Plato filed for some copyrights: "I think, therefore I owe royalties!"

Re:I think no

[pyros]

Whoever wins we still lose

so are the conservatives the predators or the aliens? I would have to think they're the predators, because the aliens use the bodies of their victims to brood their young (closest thing i could think of to welfare).

Re:I think no

[trentblase]

I also want to scare terrorists away

Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.

My Favorite Bit: Footnote 113

[adavies42]

From page 37:

Inventions are not created in a vacuum[113].

[113]: Well, actually, some are. Cf. 35 U.S.C. 105 (governing inventions made in outer space). But not in a metaphorical vacuum.

Re:I think no

[Anonymous Coward]

whereas the predators slaughter for pleasure (closest I could think of to Iraq).

Re:I think no

[Anonymous Coward]

Contemporary "liberals" tend to focus on being generous . . . with other people's money.

Hey, I don't have a problem with that.

It's when they start getting generous with my money that I begin to complain. ;)

Re:those statistics don't tell everything

[fatcatman]

Can we just agree that all politicians are scum sucking assbags and leave it at that?

Well...

[Chuck Bucket]

intellectually speaking, yes.

PCB#@

Re:I think no

[Anonymous Coward]

Until the Corporations stick your lilly ass in Prison. Then Bubba and Tyrone will set fire to your ass and urinate on YOU.

"I made this"