I meant to blog this earlier, but Ed Felten beat me to it. Eugene Volokh (The Volokh Conspiracy blog) and Lawrence Solum (Legal Theory Blog) are having an interesting debate on the theory behind the idea of treating intellectual property as tangible property, hinging mostly on the idea of the level of property rights necessary to offer incentives to produce intellectual and tangible goods. The postings so far:
- Volokh’s initial argument lays out his argument why IP is like tangible property, using a farmer’s well as an example of a non-rivalrous tangible property
- Solum’s response, challenging the example and bringing up the idea of club goods
- Volokh’s reply, clarifying the example
- Solum’s much deeper analysis