Alan G Isaac wrote: > ----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- > Michael Perelman wrote: > >> intellectual property is an abomination in its present >> form. Libertarians used to oppose it as monopoly. What >> happened to contemporary Libertarians? >> > > > My sense is that modern libertarians oppose patents but > support copyright. I am thinking of Rothbard > (e.g., <URL:http://www.ccsindia.org/lacs/7patents_copyrights.pdf>) > but in the software arena I suppose one might also think of > the higher profile Richard Stallman. > Rather than going to Rothbard, there are other, more contemporary sources for libertarian views on this topic, which remains a subject of much contention within libertarian circles. Some of the best work has, in fact, been anti-IP, both copyrights and patents. For anti-IP arguments, see: Stephan Kinsella, here: http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf Roderick Long, here: http://libertariannation.org/a/f31l1.html Tom Palmer, here: http://www.tomgpalmer.com/papers/palmer-non-posnerian-hamline-v12n2.pdf and here: http://www.tomgpalmer.com/papers/palmer-morallyjustified-harvard-v13n3.pdf Steve Horwitz