Pursuit of Liberty: Intellectual Property Rights In a Free Society
I am one of those radical libertarians who is completely opposed to the concept of "intellectual property."
I noticed that you did not reply to a single post on this thread, not even to your own post. I am curious where you stand on this issue.
You asking me?
I think, the intellectual property right stems form the right to conditionally disclose information in exchange to a promise. It is then a contractual right, rather than property of something tangible.
For example, an author might disclose his novel to a reader (through the mechanism of a published book, typically), in exchange for a promise not to make copies. Or an inventor might disclose his idea to a manufacturer in exchange for a promise to cut the inventor in on the profits.
The government's role in institutionalizing those as, for example, the US Patent Office, is the role of mere recorder of deeds. The intellectual property rights do not come from the government any more than real property rights do.
This is a summary of my article. I probably won't have time to frequently comment on this thread, but thank you very much for the reference.