Intellectual property (IP) laws slow down the progress of culture and humanity. Artists learn and gain inspiration by copying the old Masters. They incorporated elements of the old masters’ style and put their twist on it before they can create an original.
Does this mean stealing an idea without due credit? No be respectful when borrowing an idea from someone who isn’t well known. IP laws limit the amount of information an artist is allowed to commercially release.
The point of IP laws was to protect struggling artists, writers, and musicians from getting their work stolen and sold without permission.
However, even though the intentions are good, there are the unseen consequences that we must consider. How would IP be effectively enforced without a massive amount of resources and money? More police would have to be hired to work on these cases when there are other serious crimes to solve. In short, it would be a misallocation of resources.
Also, how would you effectively prevent ideas from being spread throughout the internet? Through spying and monitoring every person and seizing or shutting down their work without permission?
Another unintended consequence is accidentally copying someone. Artists consume a lot of ideas to get inspiration and it’s impossible for us to track every single idea and give credit.
Let’s apply this to a real world situation with copyrights and patents.
Why do cancer drugs and EpiPens cost an arm and a leg? Patents created a monopoly. Think about how patents work. The government guarantees a product to help the public and makes it illegal for other companies to make a copy, or generic. It will usually takes twenty years for a patent to expire.
Additionally, this means that Mylan, the creator of the EpiPen, can charge whatever they want because they don’t face any competition. Also,the government won’t put price controls on a lobbyist they’re benefiting from.
Allowing government to define the definition of plagiarism also gives them the power to redefine it at any given moment.