Like most people, I never really gave much thought to the idea of intellectual property before. I just accepted it was part of our lives, and that it was really no different from regular property. For example, if you write a book, or a song, or discover a new drug that cures a disease, or invent some new technology that improves people’s lives, it made perfect sense that you, and you alone, should have the right to earn a profit from your creation.
It’s what trademarks, copyrights, and patents are for, with the logic being that the absence of such legal protections would lead to fewer people pursuing such activities and ultimately decrease the total amount of creativity and innovation in the world.
But recently I learned there are people who believe there should be no such thing as intellectual property rights. Some would even say that the presence of intellectual property rights leads to less innovation and creativity, not more. By granting exclusive ownership of an idea and limiting its access to others, they argue that it prevents other people from building upon and further innovating on those ideas, leading to a reduction in overall competition.
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