So, if you came up with an idea that you could patent that could make you a lot of money, would you patent it so that others could not copy your idea?
I would, because I would take the money and use it to further liberty.
Good idea comrade. Next we can vote and collect welfare to really undermine the state!
You have a simple “Liberty/Free Market Believer” test. That is if you support intellectual property then you truely do not believe in benefits of liberty and free markets. Now understand that you have not violated your principals if your partners, investors, employers etc who may already have contracted with you may stipulate that you have to patent or copyright an idea or invention.
It doesn’t prove anything. If I could I would also steal one million dollars from Jim Carrey. Jet stealing from Jim Carrey is unethical and shouldn’t be done. And I’d also hate to live in a society that did not try to get me to return the money.
Will the profits gained from the use of the state be used to further anti-statist causes?
@OP: Yes, I would, for the same reason I would accept payment in Federal Reserve Notes. I also see no need to use my profits for charity - i.e. to further liberty - in order to morally justify it.
Clayton -
Knowingly accepting stolen money is wrong, no matter what it’s used for.
You are forced to patent the idea first in order to prevent someone from getting one and forcing you to not be able to market your own idea.
That’s the question I had. I don’t know enough about patents and IP to have an opinion yet, but I understand the debate for the most part. If I invent something, shouldn’t I patent it and share it freely so that other people don’t patent it after I decide not to and they keep it to themselves?
No different than “if you could be made a president/politician and tax everybody, would you be one?”.
For books this is the case; you have to copyright your work in order to prevent other people from taking your work, copyrighting it, andpreventing you from publishing your own work.
The alternative is to use Creative Commons, which is a protection against this. It allows people to copy your work, but prohibits them from copyrighting it, I believe this is what the Mises Institute uses for its publications.
I would not be surprised at all if there is something similar for ideas/patents.
Creative commons are the future of invention!
You would be able to make your patent royalty free, and you could also decide to not pursue anyone you find who uses your patented idea.
Anyone could then use it without paying you for it, although I don’t know enough about it to know which restrictions are placed on those using the patented idea (or if there are any).
It would be foolish, IMO, to not get a patent. Otherwise someone else could get it and use the force of the government to stop you from producing it.
In that case, yeah.
Of course. Who doesn’t like money?
I don’t really count non-libertarians or thereabouts as having the same status as me. Therefore, I would get the patent and pick and choose who can use it according to my assessment on a case by case basis.
LOL, good one (if it was a joke).
NO. You can get the patent only for defensive purposes.