Anarcho-Capitalism, Aggression and Copyright

Abstract

In this paper I examine the relation between copyright and aggression from the anarcho-capitalist perspective. I hypothesise that notwithstanding ubiquitous beliefs, copyright does not protect individuals’ property and freedom; on the contrary, copyright, as well as other types of intellectual property, initiates aggressive violence against people’s property and freedom being thereby an instance of aggression, not remedy thereof. The function of norms of conduct is to eliminate conflicts over scarce resources. If a given norm of conduct, such as copyright, itself produces scarcity where there was none before, conflicts and inconsistencies will result.