The Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) is suing a Houston-area distiller for trademark infringement. The commission owns a trademark on the phrase “Texas Two Step.” The distiller wants to market a handmade vodka called “Texas Two Step.” But that is where the similarities end. Trademarks do not prohibit others from using a phrase. They do prohibit…
Libertarians have long expressed disdain for intellectual property rights. As an example, Jeffrey A Tucker writes that “ownership is impossible as regards ideas, and no one has a right to profit as such.” Tucker is correct that nobody can own an idea. He is grossly wrong when he claims that no one has a right…
Imagine the following scenario: You buy a house and over the next forty years the property significantly appreciates in value. The previous owner then threatens to terminate the sale unless you renegotiate the deal. This might sound absurd, but this is precisely what is happening to the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. In 1978, the Phillies…
For most property, ownership is a straightforward issue. We give the auto dealer money and in return we receive ownership of a vehicle. We give the grocer money and in return receive ownership of a basket of food. The exchange of values transfers ownership. Ownership in these instances is straightforward because we are dealing with…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on December 16, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. While Leftists in Washington are busy assaulting our property rights through “cap and trade”, health care “reform” and massive spending, “rightists” in another Washington–Washington University (WU) in St. Louis are busy assaulting intellectual property rights. Last week the Christian…