Good discussion, enjoying it from the sidelines…
But regarding the Hoppe quote, while humorous, it doesn’t have much to do with IP law in the USA.
Contary to his example, you can’t copyright, patent or get legal protection for an idea or thought such as he suggested. Copyrights are for original works in a fixed medium that fit a specific criteria–not just any idea or thought. Patents also have strict criteria, and you cannot patent any idea.
The IP communists believe that Rothbardian opposition to patents translates to full communism in all information. Hoppe’s argument is clearly just another elucidation of Rothbard’s anti-patent argument, and he does not in any way mention copyright. In fact, by defining property as applying only to scarce goods, he once again draws the line between ideas and information. While information is scarce and can be owned, ideas are not scarce and cannot be.
Reminder: jumping to conclusion from opposition to patents to full communism is fallacy 1 of the intellectual communists. Their entire philosophy rests on denying the materiality of information (fallacy 2), as Onar Am pointed out in his original blog post.