Just came across this article I wrote 10 years ago for the Christian Science Monitor, that I had totally forgotten about. (Note: I did not choose the title. I would not use the term “thief” to refer to anyone who uses ideas of others. See Stop calling patent and copyright “property”; stop calling copying “theft” and “piracy” (Jan. 9, 2012).)
Libertarian guru Andrew Galambos’ intellectual property beliefs were so extreme that he paid royalties to the descendants of Thomas Paine every time he used the world “liberty.” But did he steal his radical ideas from someone else?
A bust of Thomas Paine atop his monument in New Rochelle, N.Y. libertarian guru Andrew J. Galambos’ intellectual property views were so extreme that he paid royalties to the descendants of Paine every time he used the word “liberty,” which he claimed was coined by Paine.
Joe Sohm Visions of America/Newscom/File
Christian Science Monitor
By Stephan Kinsella
Guest blogger
I’ve written before about the quirky scientistic California libertarian guru Andrew J. Galambos, and his extreme, crazy IP ideas. 1 Galambos believed that man has property rights in his own life (primordial property) and in all “non-procreative derivatives of his life”—the “first derivatives” of a man’s life are his thoughts and ideas—these are “primary property.” Since action is based on primary property (ideas), actions are owned as well; this is referred to as “liberty.” Secondary derivatives, such as land, televisions, and other tangible goods, are produced by ideas and action. 2 [continue reading…]
- See Galambos and Other Nuts; also Galambosian IP Recursion; “Ideas Are Free: The Case Against Intellectual Property.” [↩]
- See also On Andrew Galambos and His Primary Property Ideas, by Alvin Lowi, Jr. [↩]
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