Copyright abolition
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Copyright abolition is a movement to abolish copyright and all subsequent laws made in its support. The notion of anti-copyright combines a group of ideas and ideologies that advocate changing copyright laws. It often focuses on the philosophical, economic, or social implications of copyright, arguing that its benefits to society are questionable and that it may, in some cases, hinder creativity while concentrating advantages among certain stakeholders. Some groups may question the justification of copyright on economic and cultural grounds. Members of this movement are in favor of either a significant overhaul or repeal copyright laws.
Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, economists at Washington University in St. Louis, have suggested that copyrights and patents are a net loss for the economy because of the way they reduce competition in the free market.[1] They refer to copyrights and patents as intellectual monopolies, akin to industrial monopolies, and they advocate phasing out and eventually abolishing them.[2]
One common argument in defense of copyright is the view that giving the developers a temporary monopoly over their works encourages further development and creativity, giving the developer a source of income, and thus encourages them to continue their creative work; usually copyright is secured under the Berne Convention, established by Victor Hugo and first adopted in 1886. Almost every country in the world has copyright laws and private information ownership has not been repealed anywhere officially. Numerous international agreements on copyright have been concluded since then, but copyright law still varies from country to country.
On the other hand, there are arguments regarding copyright and its compatibility with property rights from libertarian standpoints, for instance the premise that Stephan Kinsella establishes to explain why copyright shouldn't exist since it doesn't represent economic rivalry of scarce goods like physical resources, which justifies the existence of property rights, since ideas are not scarce nor present rivalry. This argument applies to other forms of intellectual property rights, like patents. [3]
Copyright is also massively rejected by those partaking in online piracy and other participants of peer-to-peer networks, who put copyrighted materials into public access. In addition, in the context of the Internet, Web 2.0, and other newer technologies, it has been argued that copyright laws need to be adapted to modern information technology. It is an ongoing debate in many parts of the world.
See also
[edit]
- Business ethics § Intellectual property
- Copyright alternatives
- Copyright misuse
- Copyfraud
- Corporatocracy
- Cory Doctorow
- Creative Commons
- Criticism of copyright
- Culture vs. Copyright
- Cyber-utopianism
- Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
- Enshittification
- Fair use
- File sharing
- Free-culture movement
- Freedom of information
- Free Software Foundation (FSF)
- Information wants to be free
- Intellectual property § Criticisms
- Patent troll
- Permissive software licence
- Piratbyrån
- Pirate Party
- Public domain
- Richard Stallman
- Steal This Film
References
[edit]- ↑ "Economists Say Copyright and Patent Laws Are Killing Innovation; Hurting Economy". www.newswise.com.
- ↑ "Against Intellectual Monopoly". www.dklevine.com.
- ↑ Kinsella, Stephan (July 28, 2008). "Against Intellectual Property". Mises Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
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