El monopolio de las ideas: Contra la Propiedad Intelectual
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v3i1.346Abstract
This paper presents a critique of intellectual property from an ethical and economical point of view. Once patents and copyrights are characterized as a monopolies of ideas, it is argued that intellectual pro-perty violates private property rights in its original meaning and it is not based in real scarcity but creates artificial scarcity instead. In addition, the paper challenges intellectual property as an incentive to innovation and studies the several costs of this kind of regulation. Eventually, diffe-rent market alternatives to tackle the free-riding problem are explored.
Key words: intelectual property, patents, copyrights, private property, scar-city, public good, innovation incentives, market economy.
Clasificación JEL: O310, O320, O340, H410.
Resumen: En este trabajo se presenta una crítica a la propiedad intelec-tual desde una perspectiva ética y económica. Tras caracterizar las paten-tes y los copyrights como monopolios sobre ideas, se arguye que la pro-piedad intelectual viola el derecho de propiedad privada en su sentido tradicional y crea una escasez artificial en lugar de fundarse sobre la esca-sez. Se cuestiona, asimismo, que la propiedad intelectual suponga un incen-tivo a la creación, estudiando los distintos costes de una regulación de este tipo. Por último se mencionan varias alternativas de mercado para hacer frente a los problemas de free-riding.
Palabras clave: propiedad intelectual, patentes, copyrights, propiedad privada, escasez, bien público, incentivos a la innovación, mercado.
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