Defamation Law and Reputation Rights as a Type of Intellectual Property

My article “Defamation Law and Reputation Rights as a Type of Intellectual Property” was originally slated to appear in Elvira Nica & Gheorghe H. Popescu, eds., A Passion for Justice: Essays in Honor of Walter Block (New York: Addleton Academic Publishers, forthcoming) but has been withdrawn and will be published elsewhere in September 2024. A pre-print draft is available here (pdf).

For previous arguments against defamation law, see Murray N. Rothbard, “Knowledge, True and False,” in The Ethics of Liberty (New York: New York University Press, 1998) and Walter E. Block, “The Slanderer and Libeler,” in Defending the Undefendable (2018).

Errata:

P. 278: Note 10 references Robert Andrew Macfie, ed., Recent Discussions on the Abolition of Patents for Inventions in the United Kingom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands: Evidence, Speeches, and Papers in Its Favour: With Suggestions as to International Arrangements Regarding Inventions and Copyright (London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, 1869). This book may be found at Google Books here and here. See also the “sequel”: R.A. Macfie, ed., Copyright and Patents for Inventions: Pleas and Plans for Cheaper Books and Greater Industrial Freedom, with Due Regard to International Relations, The Claims of Talent, the Demands of Trade, and the Wants of the People, vol. II (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1883).