PHIL 270 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Quality Control, Natural And Legal Rights
4 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Business Ethics
3.08.16 Lecture Notes – Intellectual Property
deGeorge
· Even if we have self-ownership and our labor and by extension, the products of our labor, how can we
justify the right to an idea?
o Anomaly is like LOL
o What has really mattered for people is the idea for turning the raw material into the thing –
what has provided the vast majority of value
· Epistemic problem?
o Who came up with the idea first?
o Who filed it first
· 1624: British Statute of Monopolies – 14 years of monopoly over the invention
· 1709: protecting copyright – expression of ideas
· Patents – inventions
o Duration of patents in the US is 20 years
· Copyrights – literary and artistic works, sometimes scientific works in dialogue form, so on
o Life of creator + 70 years
o Traced back to the Disney family
o Argue that it should be longer? Someone can just corrupt the integrity of the original work
o Response: we do want some things to evolve – always going to be a market for the original
though, so not a huge concern
· Trade secrets – information or processes, formulas, devices or techniques that are not made public and
kept secret indefinitely
o Not legally protected, but not allowed to steal them
· Trademarks – distinctive symbols that identify a product/brand
o Quality control
o Label that sends signals to consumers
· Three justifications for intellectual property
o Natural rights – extension of body, mind, labor
▪ How long would the natural right be
▪ Locke – we own our body and labor
▪ We do not own the Earth though, but the only way to own the Earth is to mix our labor
with the resources, which makes everyone else better off
o Utilitarian and pragmatic considerations
o Personality justification – expression of our personality
▪ Steve Jobs hated buttons
▪ Not a really good justification doe
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Epistemic problem: who came up with the idea first, who filed it first. 1624: british statute of monopolies 14 years of monopoly over the invention. 1709: protecting copyright expression of ideas. Patents inventions: duration of patents in the us is 20 years. Someone can just corrupt the integrity of the original work: response: we do want some things to evolve always going to be a market for the original though, so not a huge concern. Trade secrets information or processes, formulas, devices or techniques that are not made public and kept secret indefinitely: not legally protected, but not allowed to steal them. Trademarks distinctive symbols that identify a product/brand: quality control, label that sends signals to consumers.
