Speedlinking Friday – Intellectual Property

Today I would like to invite you to read a bit about intellectual property. Last week, Jeff Tucker of the Mises Institute published a book review of Against Intellectual Monopoly (also freely available as an etext) by Michele Boldrin and David Levine, a fascinating book that challenges the typical notion that intervention in the realm of so-called “intellectual property” is a legitimate function of the State. It builds on the more theoretical work Against Intellectual Property (also freely available in PDF) by Stephan Kinsella by providing more real-world examples of how copyrights and patents fail to accomplish their goals.

This review has prompted quite a stir amongst libertarians who frequent Mises.org and LewRockwell.com – there are over 300 comments on the related Mises blog post! So I think it would be constructive to bring some of these blog posts all together in one place where you can quickly read what many have been recently saying on the topic of intellectual property and its validity within the free market.

• If you only look at one thing, read Jeff Tucker’s original review of Against Intellectual Monopoly.
• Kinsella comments on Hayek, IP, and Knowledge.
• Tucker warns authors against the dangers of copyright.
• What exactly is your attitude towards IP?

A few more minor blog news notes… I’ve added a few things along the sidebar this week, including a “Blogroll” of links to other libertarian sites (a few specifically Christian ones as well), recent comments, and a little donation button. The idea with the latter basically is that if you enjoy the material here and would like to consider it like a subscription to a magazine, please contribute to the upbuilding of this blog. Ultimately, I’m more interested in your learning than your money, but any contribution towards making this site an even better resource (such as a premium WordPress theme!) would be much appreciated.

Somebody needs to hear this right now, and I’m pretty sure that person is me: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

Let God be your strength, and enjoy the weekend!