The article discusses the contentious views surrounding intellectual property (IP) laws, propelled by a tweet from Jack Dorsey advocating for their elimination. It argues that those supporting weaker IP rights may do so to safeguard existing monopolies from emerging competition. While IP laws provide exclusive control to creators and inventors, the piece explores the dynamics of market monopolies, particularly in technology, where large networks thrive due to economies of scale and network effects, making it difficult for newcomers to compete.
Advocates for weaker IP rights are not trying to revolutionize anything - they are most likely attempting to protect their existing monopolies from future competition.
In their simplest form, IP laws confer certain exclusive rights to creators - copyright holders enjoy control over their works for their entire lives (plus seventy years), while inventors generally enjoy 20 years of exclusive control over their patented inventions.
Why would someone - anyone - want to forgo the power conferred by this exclusive right? One answer is that they can already exclude by other means - for example, by possessing a market monopoly.
The most common forms of technology monopoly in the United States arise through a combination of network effects and/or economies of scale.
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