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First published 1855

The Law of Intellectual Property

by Lysander Spooner

Boston: Bela Marsh, 1855; Online Library of Liberty edition169 pages

The Law of Intellectual Property by Lysander Spooner is available as a free PDF and EPUB download at freecapitalists.org.

Author
Lysander Spooner
First published
1855
Format
PDF and EPUB
Pages
169
Publisher
Boston: Bela Marsh, 1855; Online Library of Liberty edition
License
Public domain by publication date.

Spooner's 1855 essay on the right of authors and inventors to a perpetual property in their ideas. It opens with a defense of property rights in general, then argues that intellectual creations are property like any other and should not be subject to limited terms set by statute. It is labeled volume one, but no second volume was published.

Questions

About this book and this copy

Is The Law of Intellectual Property free to download?
Yes. The complete 169-page PDF and EPUB downloads directly from this page (584 KB). There is no signup, no account and no paywall.
How long is The Law of Intellectual Property?
169 pages, 37 chapters, and about 85,319 words in the edition this archive serves.
Who wrote The Law of Intellectual Property?
Lysander Spooner (1808–1887) was an American individualist anarchist, abolitionist, and legal theorist. This archive holds 15 of Spooner's works.

What's in it

37 chapters · 85,319 words · free to read here

  1. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
  2. NOTE.
  3. SECTION I.: The Right of Property in Ideas to be proved by Analogy.
  4. SECTION II.: What is Wealth?
  5. SECTION III.: What is Property?
  6. SECTION IV.: What is the Right of Property?
  7. SECTION V.: What Things are Subjects of Property?
  8. SECTION VI.: How is the Right of Property acquired.
  9. SECTION VII.: What is the Foundation of the Right of Property?
  10. SECTION VIII.: How is the Right of Property Transferred?
  11. SECTION IX.: Conclusions from the Preceding Principles.
  12. SECTION I.: Objection First.
  13. SECTION II.: Objection Second.
  14. SECTION III.: Objection Third.
  15. SECTION IV.: Objection Fourth.
  16. SECTION V.: Objection Fifth.
  17. SECTION VI.: Objection Sixth.
  18. SECTION VII.: Objection Seventh.
  19. SECTION VIII.: Objection Eighth.
  20. SECTION IX.: Objection Ninth.
  21. SECTION X.: Objection Tenth.
  22. SECTION XI.: Objection Eleventh.
  23. SECTION XII.: Objection Twelfth.
  24. SECTION XIII.: Objection Thirteenth.
  25. SECTION XIV.: Objection Fourteenth.
  26. SECTION XV.: Objection Fifteenth.
  27. SECTION I.: Perpetuity of Intellectual Property.
  28. SECTION II.: Descent of Intellectual Property.
  29. CHAPTER IV.: THE SALE OF IDEAS.
  30. CHAPTER V.: THE POLICY OF PERPETUITY IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.
  31. SECTION I.: What is the Common Law of England?
  32. SECTION II.: Why the Common Law Right of Property in Ideas has not been more fully Acknowledged.
  33. SECTION III.: Review of the Case of Millar vs. Taylor.
  34. SECTION IV.: Review of the Case of Donaldson and another, vs. Becket and another.
  35. About Liberty Fund
  36. The Online Library of Liberty
  37. Copyright Information
Portrait of Lysander Spooner

About the author

Lysander Spooner 1808–1887

Lysander Spooner (1808–1887) was an American individualist anarchist, abolitionist, and legal theorist. He is known for establishing the American Letter Mail Company to compete with the United States Post Office and for authoring radical… Read more about Lysander Spooner.

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