Here are 3 points that if they were understood widely in the libertarian community then we would have nearly 0 pro-Intellectual Property (IP) libertarians:
(1) Property rights in resources must be property rights in scarce, contestable resources. You cannot exclusively control a non-scarce resource or knowledge. It literally cannot be done as non-scarce resources, e.g. air, cannot have physical conflicts over the control of it, and you can’t stop an idea from “entering” into somebody’s mind.
You can use physical force to “enforce” such a right in a non-scarce resource or an idea but you would truly be asserting property rights in others’ scarce resources. Therefore, you can’t have property rights in ideas, i.e., certain patterns of information.
(2) You don’t own your labor, and thus you don’t own the fruits of it. You can’t own, have property rights in, an action.
Homesteading is a valid way to acquire rights, but it has nothing to do with “mixing your labor.” It has everything to do with being the first to use a scarce resource and intentionally claiming ownership to it.
(3) A just legal system’s purpose isn’t to set up incentives so that writers, inventors, etc. write more, invent more, etc. The purpose of it is to protect property rights.
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