One question that divides libertarians is the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of privileges such as copyright, patent, and trademark — those usually subsumed under the rubric of "intellectual property". This article deals with the individualist and propertarian meaning of libertarian (sometimes called right libertarianism). ... In law, particularly in common law jurisdictions, intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. ...

Many libertarians, particularly those unaware of online politics, don't have a strong opinion on the topic. A good number consider it a minor matter in the light of greater government violations of ordinary everyday rights, including regular property.

Some natural-law libertarians believe in a right of authors and inventors to control others' copying of their creations. They usually believe this right should have all the conventional attributes of property, including perpetual inheritance. They differentiate between the intellectual property (e.g. a blueprint, or music) and its physical manifestation (e.g. the machine or a copy of the music), the former being used to create the latter. They believe, therefore, that an owner's control over the use of his/her property extends to control over the use of intellectual property. Nonetheless, such a right (in their view) would exist regardless of whether government chose to enforce it. Going even further with this view was Andrew Galambos, who held that even ones ideas and thoughts were "primary property" and rightfully belong only to the originator, and that the right to primary property cannot be relinquished even voluntarily. Andrew Joseph Galambos (1924-1997) was a libertarian who developed a theory of absolute property ownership (see Galambosianism) Andrew Galambos was born Joseph Andrew Galambos in Hungary in 1924. ...

Other natural-law libertarians believe that intellectual property is but a monopoly privilege that wouldn't exist but for government intervention, and that it should be abolished. To them, whatever secrecy and exclusivity are to exist should be achieved out of voluntary contracts, the cost of which are to be born by those who try to achieve secrecy and exclusivity. Agorism is a form of anarcho-capitalism which holds this view, and it is also held by some other anarcho-capitalists (but by no means all). Agorism is a radical libertarian political philosophy popularized by Samuel Edward Konkin III, who defined an agorist as a conscious practitioner of Counter-Economics; older terms include Left Libertarian and New Libertarian. ... Anarcho-capitalism refers to an anti-statist philosophy that embraces capitalism as one of its foundational principles. ...

There are also libertarians who consider patent rights to be monopoly privileges based on the fact that they bind those who may have never heard of the patent, nor the inventor. These libertarians may accept copyright since similar ends could arise from contracts between suppliers and receivers of information.

A few minarchists, including most Objectivists, accept the mainstream justifications of copyright et al. as monopolies useful to the market, regarding them as necessary acts of government to promote industrial and authorial innovation. Other libertarians consider the grant of monopoly to be beyond the pale of minarchism. In civics, Minarchism, sometimes called minimal statism, is the view that government should be as small as possible. ... Objectivism is the philosophy of Russian-born American philosopher and author Ayn Rand. ... In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ...

Many libertarians consider copyright and patent to be forms of inclosure — illegitimate government creation of exclusive privilege by prohibiting most individuals from accessing commons. Copyright and patents are government-granted monopolies on production, and no better than a government-granted monopoly on producing food or Internet service. For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:copyrights. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful. ... Inclosure (also commonly enclosure), refers to the process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership. ... In England and Wales, a common is a piece of land over which other people -- often neighbouring landowners -- could exercise one of a number of traditional rights, such as allowing their cattle to graze upon it. ...

Trademark, unlike copyright and patent, can be construed as a protection against fraud and misrepresentation: it ensures that others cannot abuse a successful product's good name to promote an inferior knockoff. Since most libertarians believe that fraud should be criminal, they agree in this regard with trademark law. A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ...

However, in many jurisdictions the concept of trademark dilution has developed to protect trademarks as a property right, securing the investment the trademark owner has made in establishing and promoting a strong mark without regard to likelihood for confusion. This has even been used to limit free speech about a product, something few libertarians would be likely to defend. A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ...

Anarcho-capitalists might differ as to the final answer, but agree that the optimal answer would emerge from a free market in justice and protection. Anarcho-capitalism refers to an anti-statist philosophy that embraces capitalism as one of its foundational principles. ...

External links

• The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property