Against Intellectual Property

We live in a world dominated by large intellectual property dinosaurs.

We think that copyrights, trademarks, and intellectual property should be abolished. Proudhon said it long ago, that “property is theft,” and if anything current intellectual property fights on the Internet bolster his claim. Intellectual property is for those with power, who can use the force of the state to enforce their claims. But intellectual property simply gets in the way of communication and the sharing of ideas, be it in the arts or in biology.

The mouse who would be king
Disney’s ever-expanding copyright powers are threatening to squash everyone’s cultural creativity. As two new books compellingly argue, the time is ripe for more anarchy, and fewer lawyers.

Phantom editors
If Hollywood studios could deliver their dream products in their dream formats, they would send every first-run film via electronic pipes to thousands of theatres around the world. Digital projectors would emit high-quality images on screens. And the studios could control which versions got to which theatres. Theatres in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Singapore, or Utah might receive versions that lacked nudity. Theatres in New York, Amsterdam, and San Francisco might receive versions with extra nudity.

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More Liberating Tech News

More IP News
More Intellectual Property News

Blogs

bIPlog
commons-blog
Copyfight
A Copyfighter’s Musings
Creative Commons
Current copyright readings
EFF blogs
Freedom to Tinker
FurdLog
LawMeme
Lawrence Lessig
Peter Levine
Open Access News
Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog
Wendy Selzer
soundCommons

 

ARTICLES

Anarchism Triumphant: Free Software and the Death of Copyright
“This use of intellectual property rules to create a commons in cyberspace is the central institutional structure enabling the anarchist triumph. Ensuring free access and enabling modification at each stage in the process means that the evolution of software occurs in the fast Lamarckian mode: each favorable acquired characteristic of others’ work can be directly inherited. Hence the speed with which the Linux kernel, for example, outgrew all of its proprietary predecessors. Because defection is impossible, free riders are welcome, which resolves one of the central puzzles of collective action in a propertarian social system. ”
Another Word About Plagiarism
The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond
Changing Copyright by Negativland
Copyright Law is Wrong
Is Corporate Research Funding Leading To Secrecy in Science?
Foraging on Internet For Raw Materials
Indigenous People, Genes and Genetics: What Indigenous People Should Know About Biocolonialism
Intellectual Value by Esther Dyson
The Internet and the Anti-net
Invention Or Contrivance? Biotechnology, Intellectual Property Rights & Regulation
Land-Speed-Trials: Winners and Losers in the Biotechnology Race
Life, Liberty and… the Pursuit of Copyright
Negativland’s Tenets Of Free Appropriation
Misleading News Coverage Concerning HGDP
Read them and weep: Under the guise of protecting copyrights, measures threaten readers
Rhizome: detritus references
“Shiny, Aluminum, Plastic, and Digital”
Tracks of Freedom

News

Hackers Launch Anti-Censorship Browser
File Sharing Goes Hardcore
Feasability of alternative namespaces
The Confounded Mr. Valenti
The Death Of Intellectual Property
Copyright as Censorship
GrayDay.org website parodies pro-copyright site
Dysfunctional Family Circus told to shut down.
Microsoftedu.com receives cease-and-desist from Microsoft
Kelloggs vs. Poptart Monkeys
ADL threatens AADL over trademark
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith argues that it owns the word “anti-defamation.” They sent a threatening letter to the Anarchist Anti-Defamation League (AADL).

Copyrights suck

Web Sites Critical of Intellectual Property

Against Intellectual Property
Applying Copyleft To Non-Software Information
Biotechnology, Intellectual Property Rights and Regulation
Chilling Effects Clearinghouse
EFF Consortium for Free Expression
The Free Music Philosophy
Free Patents
Campaign dedicated to keeping software patents out of Europe.
Free Software Foundation
GrayDay.org
Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism
Negativland – Intellectual Property Issues
OpenSource.org
RTMark.com
Creators of the George Bush parody site and the Barbie Liberation Front.

Trademark Fights

Archie Comics versus baby Veronica
FOX vs. King of the Hill fan sites
Another King of the Hill site shut down
Dysfunctional Family Circus
Former Playmate Wins Right to Use Title on Web Site
More Fun With “For Dummies” Trademarks
Ruling Draws a Line on Trademarks and the Web
Radio Shack vs. Bianca’s Smut Shack
Trademark Wars On The Web
TSR/Copyright Debate Compilation

Domain Disputes

Verizon Attacks Critical Domain Names
Court OKs some domains with trademarked names
ICANN Rules on Dot Com Disputes
Porn site squeezed by juice maker

Copyright Fights

Lawsuits Claim Right to Use ‘Dirty Words’ in Web Addresses

Books

Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution

Copyright and IP Resources

The Copyright Website
EFF ‘Intellectual Property Online: Patent, Trademark, Copyright’ Archive
National Writers Union
Philosophy of the GNU Project
Stanford University Libraries – Copyright and Fair Use