[pp.int.general] Greens saying Pirate Parties unnecessary

[Reinier Bakels]

Sometimes terms like "information law" (and "information rights") are used. 
It is a generic concept, not a specific right per se.
Joseph Kohler (1849-1919) devised the term "immaterial goods" 
("Immaterialgüter" in German) - but any obligation is immaterial as well.
"Property" is a specific type of rights. The French revolution stated that 
property is a "droit inviolable et sacré" (a holy and inviolable right): the 
state may not interfere with ownership at will (which was something new in 
those days). But that related to *real* property. All textbooks about 
"intellectual property" start by saying that it is NOT a form of real 
property! In a brilliant article, Machlup and Penrose explained 60 years ago 
that the term "intellectual property" was introduced in the 19th century to 
*suggest* a similarity with real property and thus to benefit from the above 
statement from the French revolution.
Still, copyright etc. are "property rights" in the system of law in the 
sense that they are a "ius in rem", i.e. rights associated with an object, 
to be exercised against anybody, as opposed to contractual rights that only 
apply between parties. A property of "property rights" in this sense is that 
they constitute a "close system", and can only be introduced by the 
legislator: else people would not know about such rights.
"Property rules" in this sense can be contrasted with "liability rules" - 
the topic of a seminal article by Calabresi and Melamed (about 1970), who 
argue that proerty rules often give the owner so much power that an 
undesirable price will result.


> IMHO it is wrong to even think about this as property. It is
> state-sanctioned monopolies.
>
> In my native language we do not use a term like "Immaterial Property",
> but a word that directly translates into "Immaterial Rights".
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Ole Husgaard.
>
> Eric Priezkalns skrev:
>> Is there an alternative term for the class of things which all get
>> treated as property, but which lack physical substance?  As we're
>> interested in reforming laws relating to that class of things, it
>> would be helpful if there was a recognized shorthand for referring to
>> them.
>>
>> E
>>
>> On 16 Sep 2009, at 16:17, Richard Stallman wrote:
>>
>>>    2) The Pirate Party prioritizes IP reform and protecting privacy.
>>>
>>> Please don't call the topic "IP".  It is vital to teach people not
>>> to think of copyrights and patents and trademarks and trade secrets
>>> as one single issue.  (See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html.)
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________
>>> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
>>> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
>>> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
>>
>> ____________________________________________________
>> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
>> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
>> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
>>
>
> ____________________________________________________
> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general