Jeffrey A. Tucker, “Doing Business Without Intellectual Property,” The Epoch Times (Feb. 18, 2026) (archive). He stole1 the title of my tract Do Business Without Intellectual Property (which he encouraged me to write when he was at LFB).
Writes Tucker:
The topic of intellectual property (IP) is a difficult one, a point that requires serious thought to understand in its fullness. It’s become the subject of debate with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). The products of LLM (large language model) are not subject to copyright control and this is by design: open sourcing is a precondition for wide distribution and acceptance. Indeed, most of the top entrepreneurs working on AI have spoken out against intellectual property and even called for its abolition.
Of course IP is a threat to AI;2 it’s a threat to human life in general.3
As I wrote recently,4
We can only hope AI will help in the battle against IP, just as encryption and torrenting has put a big dent in the ability to enforce copyright, and 3D printing might someday help people to evade patent law.5 In a just, IP-free world, people would use publicly available images and writings as they see fit, for example as book covers or illustrations. But some are no doubt now turning to AI to avoid copyright infringement: don’t bother risking copyright infringement or asking for permission or paying a license to use an image for a book cover or illustration—just ask Grok to generate it. Just recently, at the Winter Olympics, frustrated by copyright clashes when trying to use music with lyrics to the ice-dance repertoire, the brother-sister duo from Czechia “came up with a work-around: Just tango to an A.I.-generated tune in the “style” of the ’90s, since that type of copyright-free soundalike is considered kosher by the International Skating Union.” The track was “created by an A.I. prompted to come up with something resembling ’90s style Bon Jovi.’”6 It’s not ideal, but hey, we are just responding to the distortions of the perverse copyright system (which Phillips seems to favor despite whining about its absurdities).
Likewise, as Tucker notes, in response to copyright trolls,
As a result of this problem, AI-generated graphics have become enormously popular. There are no legal difficulties in using them. You can be assured that they are common property and carry no liability risk. This is why they have such an industrial advantage.
La Tucker also observes:
As for Elon Musk, he has practiced what he has preached. He long ago eschewed patents for his Tesla technology, inviting anyone and everyone to help in design and support. This has become a trend for most innovators in technology. More than anyone else, they have to grapple with the labyrinthian regulatory thicket of IP enforcement as well as navigate the litigious realm of patent and copyright trolling.
Re Tesla, see Planet Money: The Case Against Patents; re an attempt by Twitter (pre-Musk) to limit patent use, see Twitter Heroically Promises Not to Use Patents Offensively. But as I noted previously,7
Regarding Tesla, they didn’t really give up their patents. They issued a press release saying they’d allow anyone to use their technology, but that’s not a binding license. Creative Commons tries this, but it’s legally unclear without a contract.
Twitter made a serious effort by requiring employee permission to use patents offensively, but Tesla’s move was PR nonsense. Big companies won’t rely on a press release for billion-dollar investments; they need a signed license.
The patent system slows innovation in electric cars due to patent thickets, acting as a tax on standing on the shoulders of giants.
Anyway, Tucker’s piece is full of good stuff. It is, somewhat ironically, paywalled. (Why ironically? See Tucker, The Magic of Open-Source Publishing; Jeffrey A. Tucker on Intellectual Property; The Academic Publishing Paywall Copyright Subsidized Racket; Authors: Don’t Make the Buddy Holly Mistake.) You can find it archived here.
- Tongue in cheek, of course. Copying, Patent Infringement, Copyright Infringement are not “Theft”, Stealing, Piracy, Plagiarism, Knocking Off, Ripping Off ; Stop calling patent and copyright “property”; stop calling copying “theft” and “piracy”. [↩]
- Whereupon Grok admits it (and AI) is severely gimped by copyright law; Libertarian and IP Answer Man: Artificial Intelligence and IP. [↩]
- The Patent Holocaust; Because of her error, Ayn Rand chose IP over real property rights, she chose death over life; The Death Throes of Pro-IP Libertarianism (“It is obscene to undermine the glorious operation of the market in producing wealth and abundance by imposing artificial scarcity on human knowledge and learning (see “IP and Artificial Scarcity“). Learning, emulation, and information are good. It is good that information can be reproduced, retained, spread, and taught and learned and communicated so easily. Granted, we cannot say that it is bad that the world of physical resources is one of scarcity — this is the way reality is, after all — but it is certainly a challenge, and it makes life a struggle. It is suicidal and foolish to try to hamper one of our most important tools — learning, emulation, knowledge — by imposing scarcity on it. Intellectual property is theft. Intellectual property is statism. Intellectual property is death. Give us intellectual freedom instead!” Patents are death. Patents are slavery. See Roderick Long: Owning Ideas Means Owning People; The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights). [↩]
- Phillips: Has AI Already Ended Intellectual Property? [↩]
- Gary North on the 3D Printing Threat to Patent Law; The Rise of 3D Printing pushes the State closer to the Absurd Logical Conclusions of Intellectual Property and Copyright; IP in a World Without Scarcity; Pharmaceutical “Printers” and Patents; The IP War on 3D Printing Begins. [↩]
- Nitish Pahwa, “Welcome to the First Sloplympics,” Slate (Feb 13, 2026), subtitle “An A.I.-generated Bon Jovi song on Olympic ice.” [↩]
- KOL475 | Guest Lecture: Intellectual Property: Principles of Austrian Economics II | ECON104 (Saifedean Ammous and Saylor Academy). [↩]
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