Kinsella On Liberty

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 165. This is my Austrian AV Club Interview by Redmond Weissenberger, Director of the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada, back from May 3, 2012. We had a long-ranging discussion of intellectual property and libertarian theory, including a discussion about exactly how Ayn Rand and other libertarians got off track on this issue, in part because of flaws regarding "labor" and "creationism" in Locke's original homesteading argument; inconsistencies between Rand's support for IP and her recognition that production means rearranging existing property; and also the different roles of scarce means and knowledge in the praxeological structure of human action. (For more on these issues, see my blog posts Locke on IP; Mises, Rothbard, and Rand on Creation, Production, and ‘Rearranging’, Hume on Intellectual Property and the Problematic “Labor” Metaphor, Rand on IP, Owning “Values”, and ‘Rearrangement Rights’, and The Patent Defense League and Defensive Patent Pooling, and my articl

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 164. Friday, Sep. 23, 2011, I conducted a Mises Academy Webinar discussing the America Invents Act, signed into law Sept. 16 2011 by President Obama. I discussed the webinar in a Mises Daily article, Obama’s Patent Reform: Improvement or Continuing Calamity? and discussed the AIA in further detail in The American Invents Act and Patent Reform: The Good, the Meh, and the Ugly. In the webinar, I: summarized the basic problem with patent law from a free-market perspective; presented a series of real patent reforms that could make significant improvement in patent law (short of abolition); explained and critiqued the relevant changes made by the America Invents Act; briefly summarized other imminent IP legislation and treaties on the horizon; and responded to questions from attendees. The slides used in the webinar are provided below. Video Slides:

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 163. I was interviewed yesterday by James Sirois of the Critical Thinking is Required podcast, episode 27. The shownotes are below: Released: December 2, 2014      By: James In CTIR Interview 27: Stephan Kinsella (Intellectual Property), I interview Stephan Kinsella about intellectual property. Specifically, we discuss copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret law. Additionally, we analyze how these various types of law stifle innovation and competition. Critical Thinking is Required is a political and educational podcast for individuals with endless curiosity. Thank you for listening to CTIR. If you enjoyed the show, please share it with your friends. http://criticalthinkingisrequired.com Thank you Mevio’s Music Alley for providing license free music. The intro and outro song is titled "Power Within Me" by Junga World. Sources: https://stephankinsella.com/ http://mises.org/library/against-intellectual-property-0 http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/12/argument-pr

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 162. Interview on IP and libertarianism by Fabrizio Sitzia, LibertariaNation.org (Italy) (April 15, 2012; recorded Feb. 23, 2012) I was interviewed Feb. 23, 2012, by Fabrizio Sitzia of the Italian libertarian group LibertariaNation.org. It was posted on YouTube. We discussed intellectual property and related issues such as SOPA, plagiarism, IP-by-contract, and other libertarian issues such as prospects for liberty in the future; the importance of technology, the Internet, and globalism; Ron Paul and electoral politics; and libertarian sentiments and receptiveness among today’s young people. (See also Italian Libertarian IP Debate.) More info at the LibertariaNation post Intervista a Stephan Kinsella (English translation from Google translate).

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 161. This was my (remotely delivered) presentation at the 6th Adam Smith Forum, Moscow, Russia (Nov. 2, 2014): From the programme: "Entitled "Argumentation Ethics, Estoppel, and Libertarian Rights," Kinsella discusses the nature and definition of libertarianism and surveys different arguments and theories for its particular conception of rights and politics, including natural rights, consequentialist, and utilitarian approaches. He concludes with an overview of two more recent and unique approaches to justifying libertarian rights, the "argumentation ethics" approach of Austrian economist and political philosopher Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and Kinsella's own "estoppel" theory of rights." This is my second speech at the Adam Smith Forum; the first was “Why Intellectual Property is not Genuine Property,” 3rd Adam Smith Forum, Moscow, Russia (Nov. 12, 2011), also via remote video. I did not prepare a new powerpoint but I drew heavily on the one linked here, and included belo

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 160. I was on Ben Stone's "Bad Quaker" podcast yesterday, episode 449. We discussed IP and then some of Ben's previous comments on Hans-Hermann Hoppe's views on immigration law. Related links: Bad Quaker podcast: 0448 pc383 Hoppe’s Immigration (corrected) Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s “Immigration And Libertarianism” at Lew Rockwell My article  Simple Libertarian Argument Against Unrestricted Immigration and Open Borders

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 159. This is my seminar, Practical Solutions to the IP Trap, delivered to Liberty.me members on May 19, 2014, based on my monograph Do Business Without Intellectual Property (Liberty.me, 2014). This discussion, moderated by Matt Gilliland, provides an overview of IP and the issues faced by people in their careers and lives and offers suggestions as to how to ethically and practically navigate challenges posed by the existing IP system. Transcript below. Youtube: See also: Profiting without IP “Conversation with an author about copyright and publishing in a free society” (Jan. 23, 2012) Do Business Without Intellectual Property (Liberty.me, 2014) “Innovations that Thrive without IP,” StephanKinsella.com (Aug. 9, 2010) “Examples of Ways Content Creators Can Profit Without Intellectual Property,” StephanKinsella.com (July 28, 2010) “The Creator-Endorsed Mark as an Alternative to Copyright,” Mises Economics Blog (July 15, 2010) Diomavro, Avengers endgame o

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 158. This is the final  of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course “The Social Theory of Hoppe.” The slides for this lecture are appended below; links for“suggested readings” for the course are included in the podcast post for the first lecture, episode 153. Transcript below. LECTURE 6: POLITICAL ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS; HOPPE Q&A Video Slides TRANSCRIPT The Social Theory of Hoppe, Lecture 6: Political Issues and Applications; Hoppe Q&A Stephan Kinsella Mises Academy, Aug. 15, 2011   00:00:01 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Final class.  We have a lot to cover.  Before I start, let me say don’t be intimidated by the length of the slides if you see them later.  There’s a lot of slides.  I put a lot of text in there for your reading pleasure later.  We’ll skim over some of that.  It’s there for – just for a full sort of, almost like a paper for you to study later and for resources.  I’m going to try to cover as much of it as I can, and I suspect we’re going to go the full 9

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 157. This is the fifth of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course “The Social Theory of Hoppe.” I’ll release the final lecture here in the podcast feed shortly. The slides for this lecture are appended below; links for“suggested readings” for the course are included in the podcast post for the first lecture, episode 153. Transcript below. LECTURE 5: ECONOMIC ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS Video Slides TRANSCRIPT The Social Theory of Hoppe, Lecture 5: Economic Issues and Applications Stephan Kinsella Mises Academy, Aug. 8, 2011 00:00:00 STEPHAN KINSELLA: … question about – someone sent me in the class course page.  Well, I mean if you’re just asking me my opinion, I mean I don’t think Hoppe has written very much on abortion.  I actually did include an abortion question in the questions I submitted to him that hopefully he’ll give us some feedback on it for discussion next week.  I believe he is generally pro-choice because I remember he asked me one time about, oh, 1

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 156. This is the fourth of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course “The Social Theory of Hoppe.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. The slides for this lecture are appended below; links for“suggested readings” for the course are included in the podcast post for the first lecture, episode 153. Transcript below. Lecture 4: EPISTEMOLOGY, METHODOLOGY AND DUALISM; KNOWLEDGE, CERTAINTY, LOGICAL POSITIVISM Video Slides TRANSCRIPT The Social Theory of Hoppe, Lecture 4: Epistemology, Methodology, and Dualism; Knowledge, Certainty, Logical Positivism Stephan Kinsella Mises Academy, Aug. 1, 2011 00:00:01 STEPHAN KINSELLA: … and methodology and epistemological dualism, the Austrian approach.  So if you recall, last time we talked about argumentation ethics and libertarian rights, and as I said, the midterm will be posted shortly.  And some of you may be interested in the IP talk I gave at Mises University on Wednesday, which I ha

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 155. This is the third of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course "The Social Theory of Hoppe." I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. The slides for this lecture are appended below; links for "suggested readings" for the course are included in the podcast post for the first lecture, episode 153. Transcript below. LECTURE 3: LIBERTARIAN RIGHTS AND ARGUMENTATION ETHICS Video Slides TRANSCRIPT The Social Theory of Hoppe, Lecture 3: Libertarian Rights and Argumentation Ethics Stephan Kinsella Mises Academy, July 25, 2011 00:00:01 STEPHAN KINSELLA: … later.  So tonight we’ll talk about argumentation ethics.  I have a lot of slides, but some of them will go very fast because they’re just background in case you want to look at them later or if we need some quotes.  But let’s go ahead and dive right into tonight’s lecture.  By the way, before we start, I’m curious.  Who here – well, let me get to the readings page first.  I don’

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 154. This is the second of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course “The Social Theory of Hoppe.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. The slides for this lecture are appended below; links for“suggested readings” for the course are included in the podcast post for the first lecture, episode 153. Transcript below. LECTURE 2: TYPES OF SOCIALISM AND THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE Video Slides TRANSCRIPT The Social Theory of Hoppe, Lecture 2: Types of Socialism and the Origin of the State Stephan Kinsella Mises Academy, July 18, 2011 00:00:00 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Can you guys hear me okay?  Video and slide showing?  Hello?  Test, test.  Okay, hey, good evening, everyone.  It’s 6 p.m. central time US, later for some of you I know.  So let’s get started.  If there’s any initial questions about last week’s lecture, which I’ll go over some of in a little bit, I’ll be happy to take them now.  But tonight, what I would like to concentrate

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 153. This is the first of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course “The Social Theory of Hoppe.” See also my article "Read Hoppe, Then Nothing Is the Same," Mises Daily (June 10, 2011). The remaining lectures follow in podcast feed. The slides for the first lecture of the Social Theory of Hoppe course are provided below, as are the “suggested readings” for the course. Transcript below. [Update: see also David Gordon, “The Political Economy of Hans Hoppe” (Mises University 2021)] As general background I suggest: Kinsella, “Foreword,” in Hans-Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (Laissez Faire Books ebook edition, 2013) Kinsella, “Afterword,” in Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Great Fiction: Property, Economy, Society, and the Politics of Decline (Laissez Faire Books, 2012) “Introduction,” with Jörg Guido Hülsmann, in Hülsmann & Kinsella, eds., Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Mises Institute, 2009) (published as “Es

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 152. This is my speech “Libertarianism After Fifty Years: What Have We Learned?” delivered at the NYC LibertyFest (Brooklyn, NY, October 11, 2014). The original title was "Libertarianism After Fifty Years: A Reassessment and Reappraisal" but I was allotted only about 15-20 minutes so condensed the scope and could only touch briefly on many of the matters discussed. This audio was recorded by me from my iphone in my pocket; video and a higher-quality audio should be available shortly. The outline and notes used for the speech is appended below, which includes extensive links to further material pertaining to  matters discussed in the speech. An edited transcript is available here. Speech Notes/Outline Libertarianism After Fifty Years: What Have We Learned? Stephan Kinsella NYC LibertyFest, Brooklyn, NY October 11, 2014   Introduction Modern libertarianism is about 50 years old. Main figures: Rand and Rothbard. “three furies of libertarianism” (Doherty, Radicals

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 151. This is my recent speech “Balancing Intellectual Property Rights and Civil Liberties: A Libertarian Perspective,” presented at Branford College at Yale University, New Haven, CT, Oct. 2, 2014, in a lecture series called “The Politic Presents." It was held in the beautiful Trumbull Room at Branford Court, where the accompanying picture was taken. The initial speech is about 33 minutes and was addressed mainly to non-libertarian undergraduate students. I tried to set the stage for those not familiar with Austrian economics, IP or IP theory, libertarianism, without being too basic. These were smart Yale students, after all. This was recorded in my iPhone in my suit pocket, but the quality is okay anyway; and it includes the 33 minute initial lecture and the following 20-minute Q&A session, but then I forgot to turn off my iPhone as I walked to a restaurant with a group of students for dinner, so it also includes some informal but fun Q&A and related conversation as we

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 150. An interview by the delightful libertarian couple Caity and Dan Greene, from Glasgow, Scotland. We discussed a variety of liberty-related matters, as noted on their show notes for Episode 10: Stephan Kinsella is Founder and Executive Editor of Libertarian Papers, Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom (C4SIF), a member of the Editorial Board of Reason Papers, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Lexington Books series Capitalist Thought: Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. A registered patent attorney and former adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law, Stephan has published numerous articles and books on IP law, international law, and the application of libertarian principles to legal topics. He received an LL.M. in international business law from King’s College London, a JD from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU, and BSEE and MSEE degrees from LSU. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council of theGove

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 149. My recent appearance on the Non-Aggression Podcast with host Mike Cuneo, aka 412 Libertarian. We talked about IP, Georgism, Stefan Molyneux's use of the DMCA to do a copyright takedown of a critic on youtube, whether Hitler is responsible for the holocaust, and the like. From his show notes: IP And Beyond With Stephan Kinsella – Non-Aggression Podcast I had the pleasure of speaking at length with Stephan Kinsella, a patent attorney, libertarian author and scholar, and head of the Center For The Study of Innovative Freedom, or C4SIV. Stephan also runs the site StephanKinsella.com Causation and Aggression (free PDF file), the paper we spoke about in the later part of the podcast. One of my favorite articles of all time, “What It Means To Be An Anarcho Capitalist.” Kinsella is the author of the groundbreaking book “Against Intellectual Property”(freely available for download) Here is the article that I alluded to when speaking about the marble statue example, a

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 148. I was a guest last night on Freedom Feens (Aug 28, 2014): Stephan Kinsella Battles The Copyright Zombies And Patent Trolls – Freedom Feens live radio archive "Stephan Kinsella is an intellectual property attorney who hates intellectual property laws. He explains why, and what can be done about it. It’s one of the best chats we’ve heard from him yet. Derrick J. Freeman and Davi Barker help. Michael W. Dean isn’t there, and Davi is only there sometimes, because some patent somewhere is messing with their Internet." Some links for matters discussed in the show: Personal Audio’s podcasting troll patent:http://www.google.com/patents/US8112504 Man sentenced to federal prison for uploading “Wolverine” movie Tim Lee and Lawrence Lessig: “some punishment” of Swartz was “appropriate”; RIAA Celebrates 15 Year Jail Sentence For Movie and Music Pirate; Six Year Federal Prison Sentence for Copyright Infringement; British student Richard O’Dwyer can be extradited to US fo

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 147. I appeared on the Tom Woods Show today (Aug. 20, 2014, Episode 225), to discuss patents and liberty.  

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 146. Update: See also Thoughts on Walter Block on Voluntary Slavery, Alienability vs. Inalienability, Property and Contract, Rothbard and Evers (Jan. 9, 2022). Transcript below. See also KOL197 | Tom Woods Show: The Central Rothbard Contribution I Overlooked, and Why It Matters: The Rothbard-Evers Title-Transfer Theory of Contract. Today I had a discussion with Williamson Evers, about his pathbreaking 1977 article Toward a Reformulation of the Law of Contracts, which was the first article ever published in the Journal of Libertarian Studies (Evers's other JLS articles). This article was relied on heavily by Rothbard, in ch. 19 of The Ethics of Liberty, "Property Rights and the Theory of Contracts." I discuss this piece in detail in my 2003 JLS article "A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability" (now in Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Houston, Texas: Papinian Press, 2023)), and I also discuss it in my post Justice and P