Intellectual Property

[dernier combat]

I'm completely uneducated on the subject and I have to do an assignment of sorts on it.

Why exactly is it that we oppose IP rights?
How can our position be justified during capitalism (e.g. hurr pirating movies kills the industry)?

Any other arguments against it?

[Kotze]

There are 3 distinct concepts that are thrown together under "intellectual property" — trademarks, patents, copyright.

I've written about it here (http://www.revleft.com/vb/copyrights-patents-etc-t144052/index.html?p=1909600#post1909600) (also parts of this comment (http://www.revleft.com/vb/case-central-planning-t142473/index.html?p=1990587#post1990587)).

Richard Matthew Stallman is one of the founders of the free-software movement and has written a lot about that (he's also against using the term "intellectual property" at all, because it is very misleading). Another writer is the (less radical) academic and founder of Creative Commons Lawrence Lessig.

[Hexen]

Copyrights/patents/IPs/etc is nothing more than just a reminder that the bourgeoisie control the modes of production and we don't and your just borrowing the material or "the right to use it" and it goes back to them (which I believe this is how capitalism works).