I searched for the Economist article from 1851 after I heard the labour economist Guy Standing mention it in this recent discussion at DAVOS at 22:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5n4j8-zUE4 Guy Standing points out that intellectual property is part of rentier Capitalism. He cites the Economist article because it argues that such rights are not really rights but are in fact privileged forms of income or rent determined by legislation rather than by free markets. However, instead of doing away with such privileged forms of income as the Economist argues, I think Guy's point is that the government ought to be redistributing some of this rental income back to the wider society in the form of a basic income. Harry On Sun, Jan 29, 2017 at 9:08 PM, H LV <hveeder...@gmail.com> wrote: > Article in the Economist arguing against intellectual property rights. > > http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21660753- > our-leader-patents-1851-right-property-inventions > > Feb 1st, 1851 > > The right of property in inventions > > WE ARE challenged by some observations in the Morning Chronicle of > Wednesday to resume the consideration of the claims of inventors. We have > as strong a desire as our contemporary, or as the Committee of the Society > of Arts, whose views he expounds, that genius should meet its appropriate > rewards—that invention should be encouraged—that discoverers of useful > things should be honoured—that no thought permanently beneficially should > be lost; but we cannot, therefore, conclude that inventors should have a > monopoly for a limited period of certain published thoughts and plans, > which they may have been the first to conceive. > > continues here > http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21660753- > our-leader-patents-1851-right-property-inventions >
