Source: Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom
by Stephan Kinsella
“Before IP, the two principles we refer to to determine the owner of a resources is: who had it first (original appropriation); and who transferred it by contract. There is a third case which can be viewed as special case of the second: if you commit trespass (use someone’s resource without the owner’s consent; invasion) you owe rectification to the victim. But now you add another principle: or if someone else thought of a way to use their own property then he can now exercise a veto rights over your own uses of your property, even though you did not consent to be burdened by this negative servitude: this is a nonconsensual negative servitude. It redistributes wealth from the owner to the IP holder; it is a form of theft.” (05/31/25)