As noted in Kinsella on IP Panel of NYU School of Law Symposium: “Plain Meaning in Context: Can Law Survive its Own Language?”, last month I was a panelist on the “Intellectual Property Law and Policy” panel of Symposium: “Plain Meaning in Context: Can Law Survive its Own Language?”, put on by New York University School of Law/Journal of Law and Liberty (February 18, 2011). Professor Richard Epstein delivered an interesting keynote address immediately preceding my panel.
The video for the panel (including Epstein’s preceding speech) has now been posted; see embedded version below. My own speech starts around the 56:00 mark. Near the end of Epstein’s speech (at 48:11) I asked him a question about federalism and the doctrine of selective incorporation; he gave a fair answer, but one I disagree with on the grounds the privileges and immunities clause did not unambiguously mean to incorporate a large set of “fundamental rights” into the Fourteenth Amendment, as Raoul Berger has argued. On the IP panel, a more general Q&A and interpanelist interchange session starts around 1:53:14, with me drawing a lot of the questions from fellow panelists and the audience. I was the only one who used a powerpoint; it cannot be seen from the posted video, so the file is here: The problem with IP, and also embedded also below.
For those interested in this topic, see my article Rethinking IP, which discussed my upcoming Mises Academy Course Rethinking Intellectual Property, a six-week course starting this Tuesday, March 22.
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…was that the under-ratified 14th Amendment that holds such specific legal weight on this issue ?
Legal-Positivism is the dominant mode of current American law & courts. The law means exactly what government officials (robed or otherwise) say it means, on any given day/hour.
The balanced concept is federalism and its reciprocal of subsidiarity.
Pray tell, what comments did the gentleman with the steaming ears have for you after the event?
Oh, he was upset anyone could be a libertarian. He told me me was a communist or something. I told him I was quite aware that other people disagreed with us libertarians for a variety of reasons. He was whining about a few corporatist policies of the state, and I pointed out this was not possible without the state that he favors, and he was rendered a bit speechless and doddered off.
Looks like there were some cute chicks there.
Good video Stephan. I am really coming around on this IP topic. I guess I never really gave it much thought before. I catch most of your vids and cant seem to get enough. Keep up the great work.
That was really good stuff. You were definitely the star of that conference, Stephan.
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