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submitted 11 months ago by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] aidan@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

Some people argue that intellectual property law is not free market capitalism, and is instead a regulation that benefits big business. I'm one of those people

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 8 points 11 months ago

While I'd agree in essence, in practice I don't. They're an offshoot of capitalism. The goal of capitalism is profit, and if you can create barriers to competition, that protects your profit. IP law is something created out of capitalism as a barrier. If it isn't the government doing it, it'd be goons hired by those in power. They exist because of capitalism, not from something external to it. If the system were focused on doing good or creating utility, IP law wouldn't be required.

[-] barsoap@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Free market and capitalism are mutually exclusive as in the theoretical model that is the free market, with perfectly rational actors and information, a capitalist class cannot exist, they'd quickly get competed down to size.

Unregulated markets and capitalism, now that's a lovechild, as without regulation real-world markets quickly turn into monopolistic shark-tanks instead of free markets, actors not being rational, information not being perfect and all. The role of regulation, indeed the state, is to correct for that factor and make the real-world market approximate the free market.

(This view of the world brought to you by ordoliberalism, the only sane liberal economic theory there ever was or probably will be -- because they actually managed to side with the free market, and not capitalism, as the rest of them).

this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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