Re: Get rid of IP totally
Perhaps, but it's best not to lump all "IP" together. Patents, copyrights and trade marks are very different things.
The one that should most likely be abolished altogether is patents. Rewarding inventors is a nice idea, but patents do so at a massive cost to everyone else, including other inventors. I don't mean so much the direct legal costs, though they are not insignificant, as the indirect costs associated with everyone having to constantly negotiate the patent minefield. Though a few people get rich from them, they make most people poorer and it's a big net negative for society. They probably inhibit innovation in more cases than they encourage it (though forcing people to work around an existing patent sometimes leads to a useful discovery).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
