There is no Such Thing as

“Intellectual Property”

Gregory Engels, Co-Chairman Pirate Parties International

International Liberty Conference, Milan 11-12 October 2010
Some Rights Reserved
• Copyright 2010 by Gregory Engels, Pirate
Parties International. Except where
otherwise noted, this work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution
Share Alike 3.0 License
“Even the good become pirates in a
world where the rules seem absurd.”
Lawrence Lessing - Remix
 Pirate Parties
International
• Founded April 2010 in
Brussels

• 22 Pirate Parties from 4

continents

• rapidly growing
 Gregory Engels

• Co-Chairman of Pirate
Party International

• Geek

• Live in Germany
 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights
Article 17 
1. Everyone has the right to own property
alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
property
But, Article 17 do not
apply to “Intellectual
Property”
If “intellectual property” was the same or
just a form of property, it would be matched
by the article 17 of UDHR and the article
27.2 would not be necessary
 Article 27 

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in

the cultural life of the community, to enjoy
the arts and to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of

the moral and material interests resulting
from any scientific, literary or artistic
production of which he is the author.
 Property is...
• … the right to control the tenure
• … the right to exploit the property object
• … the right to destroy it
• … the right to modify it
• … the obligation not to use it harmful
• … assured by law
• … marketable
• … everlasting
Property Principles
 Occupation Principle
“There is, however, no such thing as private
ownership established by nature, but property
becomes private either through long
occupancy (as in the case of those who long
ago settled in unoccupied territory) or
through conquest (is in the case of those who
took it in war) or by due process of law,
bargain, or purchase, or by allotment.”

• There are goods out there

• They turn into Property by

conquest (occupation)

Cicero: De officiis, I, 21 - 44BC

 Labour Principle
“As much land as a man tills, plants, improves,
cultivates, and can use the product of, so much is
his property. He by his labour does, as it were,
inclose it from the common.”

• Everyone is entitled to use the

goods of nature

• Property emerges through labour

• Limited in the capability of

consumption

• Tied to the Lock’s freedom principle

John Locke: Two Treatises of Government, II, 32 - 1689
 Labour ex nihilo?
• Common theme:

• one creates something “out of himself”

• his creation is his property

• This lead to a fundamental question:

• can one create something ex nihilo, out of himself?

• or is all he can is to adopt and modify what is already

there?

• Condorcet vs. Fichte

The Labour principle by
itself is absolutely not
sufficient to define
Property
 Categorical Imperative
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you
can at the same time will that it should become a
universal law.”

• Property is a relation between

things, not humans

• The limitation of someone's rights

needs his agreement

• The property emerges in the state

through unified will of everyone

Immanuel Kant: Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1785

 Scarcity Principle
• based on Kant’s rationality
doctrine

• the use of something by a

person / for a task, limit the
usage by another person /
task

• scarce goods have a price

greater then zero, if the price
would be zero, more would
• The scarcity leads to
necessity of property to
be consumed than there is. regulate conflicts around
scarce goods
Property examples
 Property - a mobile thing?
• Through occupation - possible. There are
ownerless things in nature, that can be
declared property

• Through labour - possible. It is possible to

apply labour to things and in some case it
lead to their creation (i.e. a quarry)

• Through Scarcity - possible. Movable

things have usually a local, temporal and
quantitative scarcity
 Property - breathing air
• Through occupation - possible. There is ownerless
breathing air in nature, it can be declared property

• Through labour - possible. It is possible to apply labour

to air (i.e. to store it). But: can the labour be reversed?
Otherwise - occupation through breathing.

• Through Scarcity - not possible. Air is (yet) plenty

available. If it get scarce, it could be turned into property

“Now a nose full of Perri Air”

President Skroob (“Spaceballs” 1987)
 Property - land
• Through occupation - possible.
There is land out there, it can be
declared property or conquered

• Through labour - partially possible.

Cultivation and construction
creates property. It is not possible
to own untouched land.

• Through Scarcity - possible. Land

(especially locally) is scarce
“Intellectual Property”
“Intellectual Property”
• Through occupation - perhaps possible.
Depends on the premise of information that is
contained in nature

• Through labour - possible, but inconsistent.

Same as above; Multiple acquisitions through
parallel discoveries possible

• Through Scarcity - not possible. Information is

not scarce
 Classical Theories on
“Intellectual Property”
 The Theory of
“Intellectual Property”
• Application of Locke’s Labour theory to
written works (Locke himself never used
the therm “intellectual property)
• An author is a owner of his own labour and
therefor is the fruit of his labour (the
creation) also his property
• This was criticized by Kant
 Conclusions
• The Scarcity theory is the only one that
hold ground
• We must accept the nature of information
• The propaganda term “Intellectual
Property” is not to be used
• The question of Authorship is not
explained by a mere dismissal of
“intellectual property”
 Material used
• Andi Popp - “Warum Eigentum nicht geistig sein kann?” Presentation at the
OpenMind 2010 conference

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lochnessmonster.jpg - A “fair use” of the

famous Loch Ness Monster hoax photograph

• Cicero by Bertel Thorvaldsen 1800 - public domain

• John Locke by Herman Verelst (died 1690) - copyright estinguished

• Immanuel Kant - stamp for 250 years of birth. - public domain

• Empty shelves - photo by Zabowski CC-BY-ND

• Thereasure hunt manilla (’59 Cadillac) - photo by Leap Kye CC-BY-ND

• Crooked "Private Property" Sign - photo by Jordan Meeter CC-BY-SA

• Christopher Schirner - photo of Gregory Engels CC-BY-SA

 Sources and Links
• Pirate Party International: http://www.pp-international.net

• Universal Declaration on Human Rights

• Cicero: http://www.constitution.org/rom/de_officiis.htm

• John Locke: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Two_Treatises_of_Government/

The_Second_Treatise_of_Government:_An_Essay_Concerning_the_True_Origin,_Extent,_and_End_
of_Civil_Government

• Immanuel Kant: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Groundwork_of_the_Metaphysics_of_Morals

• Immanuel Kant: Von der Unrechtmäßigkeit des Büchernachdrucks

• Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Beweis der Unrechtmäßigkeit des Büchernachdrucks.

 Contact

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