Kinsella On Liberty

Stephan Kinsella
  • 4.6 (37)
  • Philosophy

Austro-Anarchist Libertarian Legal Theory

  1. Sep 7

    KOL497 | Debate: “Should Free Cities Protect Intellectual Property?” Free Cities Foundation Annual Conference — Próspera, Honduras 2026

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 497. Yesterday (Sep. 5, 2026) I participated in the debate: “Should Free Cities Protect Intellectual Property?” with IP attorney Brian O’Beirne, moderated by Tipolis CFO Alex VossTopic, held at the Free Cities Foundation annual Conference, Próspera, Honduras, Sept. 4–7 (Sat. Sept. 5, 2026) (SK profile; O'Beirne profile) (see Free Cities Foundation Annual Conference — Próspera 2026). https://youtu.be/4GWPdxnpCOI I spoke for 4 minutes, then Brian, and then we had an exchange and audience questions for the remaining time. It was very civil unlike some other debates I've participated in. (( KOL038 | Debate with Robert Wenzel on Intellectual Property; KOL123 | Debate with Jan Helfeld on Anarchy vs. Limited Government. )) One thing I liked is that Brian started off admitting, first, that he has some sympathy for my anti-IP position, and, second, that he acknowledged that opposition to IP is the libertarian position--unlike other libertarian IP proponents who claim that IP rights are compatible with libertarianism, if not the "heart and core" (Ayn Rand) or property rights or  . (( Objectivists: “All Property is Intellectual Property” A Recurring Fallacy: “IP is a Purer Form of Property than Material Resources” The “Ontology” Mistake of Libertarian Creationists. )) "primary property" (Galambos). (( Galambos and Other Nuts; Rothbard and Galambosians; The Galambosians strike back; “Around this time I met the Galambosian.”; Libertarian Sci-Fi Authors and Copyright versus Libertarian IP Abolitionists; Was Galambos an IP Thief?; Galambos the Crank; Shades of Galambos: Man tries to copyright his name. )) Transcript and shownotes below. Re other IP debates: In his defense, as far as I know my opponent does not purport to have a coherent theory of property or IP or libertarianism. Go here https://t.co/rRs61a68M6 and search for the word "debate" for several others -- Richard Epstein was more coherent, but totally utilitarian; he… — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) September 8, 2026 Related/mentioned “Conversation with an author about copyright and publishing in a free society” (Jan. 23, 2012) Copywrong: copyright as censorship KOL346 | Copyright and Satoshi’s Legacy: The Tatiana Show, with Tatiana Moroz How to Improve Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Law FDA and Patent Reform: A Modest Proposal “Are Patents Needed to Make Up for FDA Kneecapping?” (July 2, 2011) KOL190 | On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, But Who Would Pick the Cotton? (PFS 2015) Mark Lemley: The Very Basis Of Our Patent System… Is A Myth (July 29, 2011) Frank H. Easterbrook, “Intellectual Property Is Still Property,” Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 13, no. 1 (Winter 1990): 108–118, pp. 109–110 (on inevitable disclosure) Intellectual Property’s Great Fallacy KOL190-2 | Part 2: On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, But Who Would Pick the Cotton? — Panel Discussion, Hoppe, Dürr, Kinsella, van Dun, Daniels (PFS 2015) The Overwhelming Empirical Case Against Patent and Copyright “The Problem with Intellectual Property,” in Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics Do Business Without Intellectual Property (Liberty.me, 2014) The Universal Principles of Liberty Shownotes and Summary Overall Summary of Debate At the Free Cities Conference in Próspera, Alex Voss moderated Stephan Kinsella against Brian O’Beirne on whether intellectual property is legitimate and what a free city should do about it. Kinsella argued that property exists only to allocate scarce, rivalrous means (self-ownership, first use, contract, restitution); ideas are guides to action, not ownable things. Patent and copyright are statutory privileges—historically Crown monopolies and press control—that impose unconsented negative servitudes on other people’s property, block independent inventors, enrich large firms, and should be abolished. O’Beirne treated IP as a right in human ingenuity and a last individual defense against corporate oligopoly and central banking. He granted that the present code is broken (thickets, trolls, life-plus-70) but said abolition would hand creators’ work to those same firms; the answer is reform, sector-scaled terms, and symmetry of rights, not erasure. On practice they were closer. Both said Próspera should not pick a treaty fight that threatens the zone. O’Beirne wanted opportunistic protection to attract builders (CAFTA-DR/TRIPS, Infinita). Kinsella wanted the lightest lawful touch—no treble damages, no criminal copyright, shorter terms, Founders’ copyright, no software copyright—and stressed that patents are territorial, so skipping a local patent office does not stop U.S. or European filings and is largely irrelevant for exporters. Audience questions (expiry of “property,” fire and the wheel, trademarks, pharma/FDA) replayed the same split: O’Beirne qualified rights by the common good and novelty; Kinsella called consistent IP perpetual, the patent-bargain a myth, and patents a patch on the FDA. Summary of Kinsella's position (from Grok, based on the transcript and his pre-debate email exchange with O'Beirne and Voss) Stephan Kinsella’s case against intellectual property, as he put it to Alex Voss before the session and then on stage, has two layers that he keeps joined: a rights argument about what property is, and a practical argument about what a free city should do when it cannot get the ideal. Voss had already framed the dispute narrowly: patents and copyrights—exclusive rights in inventions and works that bind strangers without a contract. Contracts, NDAs, employment terms, and trade secrets were set aside as different questions. Voss’s sketch of Kinsella’s theory (conflict over scarce means; title by appropriation or transfer; creation not an independent source of title; information as patterning of an already-owned substrate; IP as a veto over others’ things) Kinsella accepted, then added history, scale of harm, and institutional design. 1. What property is for The four-minute opening is the core. We do not live in the Garden of Eden. Action uses two things: scarce means that can cause results, and knowledge that tells us how to use them. Knowledge can be copied; a hammer or a factory cannot be used two incompatible ways at once. Because people have free will, conflict over those scarce means is always possible. Property rights are the norms that let people possess and use those means peacefully—self-ownership of the body; original appropriation of unowned external resources; contract; restitution for wrongs. That, he says, is the spine of Roman law, common law, and a consistent libertarianism. Ideas do not fit. They are not “conflictable.” They exist only as the patterning of some already-owned substrate (paper, a chip, a machine). You own what you make because you already owned the inputs, not because “creation” mints a new title. Patent and copyright therefore do not add a new kind of property. They give A a legally enforceable veto over how B uses B’s own press, factory, or chemicals. In the debate he calls that a nonconsensual negative easement or servitude—the same structure as a restrictive covenant, minus the neighbors’ consent. Consent is the whole difference. He is explicit that he does not care about “symmetry.” A rule that everyone may sue everyone for defamation, or for welfare, would be symmetric and still unjust. First-to-the-patent-office does not even guarantee uniqueness: independent inventors are blocked. That is enough, for him, to reject the system as a matter of justice, before any spreadsheet about incentives. 2. History, legislation, and the dishonest name He adds what Voss’s paragraph left out. Patent began as Crown privileges to shield favorites from competition (Statute of Monopolies, 1623). Copyright began as control of the press and unapproved speech (Statute of Anne, 1710). They did not grow out of common-law title; they were statutes. In the email he presses a further institutional point: patent and copyright cannot exist without a legislature empowered to make law. Organic court-made law—Roman law, common law, Restatements, even a scholarly compilation adopted as a code—resolves disputes over scarce things. It does not invent a 17-year monopoly in a pattern. A free city that takes common-law or Restatement principles as its base, and treats legislation as rare and suspect, has a structural reason not to enact IP at all. His Universal Principles of Liberty are meant that way: not as a statute. He tells Brian that origin is not his only argument (so the “genetic fallacy” charge misses). He also opposes trademark, defamation, and trade secret, some of which did come through common law. “Sometimes the common law gets it wrong.” The name “intellectual property” is the propaganda move: a state privilege flying the flag of property and capitalism. That is why he calls it intellectual privilege and why, in the email, he ranks abolishing or shrinking it with war, taxation, and central banking—and in one respect worse, because those are at least seen as evils, while IP is sold as a positive good. 3. “Property in value,” labor theories, and the treaty web The email states the deeper error he thinks sits under most pro-IP talk: a property right in value, fed by a Lockean labor theory of property and a Smithian–Marxian labor theory of value. Labor and ingenuity do not generate title in other people’s already-owned stuff. That fallacy, he writes, now binds almost the whole world through the Paris Convention, the PCT, Berne, TRIPS, and WIPO. So the theoretical case is not academic. It explains why a new city cannot simply opt out without cost. On stage he answers the “ingenuity deserves respect” line the same way: respect is not a veto over neighbors. Cop

  2. Aug 15

    KOL496 | Matt Sands and Kinsella on the Universal Principles of Liberty and the Nations of Sanity “Peace Agreement”

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 496. Matt Sands of the Nations of Sanity project and I discuss the possible interrelationship between his project and my The Universal Principles of Liberty. Recorded Aug. 14, 2026. https://youtu.be/ET2ucqFU7Ak?si=VVcdipDX-umElPxR Related The Universal Principles of Liberty  Supplemental Principles | Kinsella’s Annotations and Commentary KOL442 | Together Strong Debate vs. Walter Block on Voluntary Slavery (Matthew Sands of Nations of Sanity) Fusillo on the Universal Principles of Liberty and Liberland Libertarian Nation and Related Projects Liberland KOL480 | The Liberland Constitution and Libertarian Principles (Liberland Prague, 2025) The Voluntaryist Constitution Liberland Constitution Christmas Party Prague 2025 See also draft Liberland Constitution, Art. I, §1, ¶¶3, 4: The Universal Principles of Liberty, adopted on 14 August 2025 and as they stand on the date of adoption of this Constitution, are hereby incorporated by reference and may be consulted for interpretive and suppletive purposes, to the extent that they are not incompatible with the provisions of this Constitution. Any further amendment to the Universal Principles of Liberty shall have no force within Liberland unless adopted as an amendment to this Constitution in accordance with the procedures set forth herein. Note: In the discussion we disagree on whether the standard of proof in a normal property dispute should be preponderance of the evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt. In subsequent offline discussion I sent the following comments to Matt (edited): Thinking more about the preponderance of the evidence issue we discussed. See for example this tweet about a property owner using force to eject someone who is a trespasser: always causing problems pic.twitter.com/mdecFjVTnW — Wolverine land (@Breaking57) August 15, 2026 Note: the property owner didn't have to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that they own the store to have the cops threaten force to eject him. Just like you don't have to "prove" "beyond a reasonable doubt" that you own your car, or your body, or are "not an aggressor," to have a right to use force against a trespasser/aggressor: someone attempting to use, alter the physical integrity of, or invade the borders of, your body or other resources that you own in accordance with principles of original appropriation and contractual transfer. Having rights, per se, has nothing to do with proof or standards. It's an if-then thing: if you have certain justified rights of exclusive control to certain resources, then you are justified in using force against the body or other resources possessed or owned by an aggressor. This general statement is not a statement about trials or proof in such fora. It's a statement about justifiable action. To return to one example I gave: if A and B claim grandpa's house (say, from his will), then if you use preponderance to award it to A, then later A can use that property claim to use force to prevent B from entering. Even that use of defensive force does not require any "proof." It is just the right of the owner. Matters of proof only apply in some later forum addressing the actions taken and seeking to recognize certain property rights claims or order punishment of a malfeasor. You have to keep in mind that things like the "right" to jury trial, due process, presumption of innocence, the exclusionary rule, beyond a reasonable doubt—none of these are actual rights. They are just "rights" that accompany being part of a political community: civil or political rights, not natural rights. They are just limits we want placed on powerful actors like the state. So, by arguing for employing the BRD standard in any forum determining ownership of a contested resource based on the general libertarian principles of self-ownership, original appropriation, contract, and rectification, you are importing standards that really meant as limits on the state's power, into how property rights are determined, applied, recognized, and enforced. There is simply no reason to do this. These things are not really even related. Property rights emerge as normative support for natural aspects of action such as control of one's body and homesteading and trading of external scarce resources. See On Property Rights in Superabundant Bananas and Property Rights as Normative Support for Possession. These principles have nothing to do with the state: only with (a) human action, praxeology, economics (descriptive); and (b) society and human interaction: norms, rights (normative). It is possible to have, and to imagine, any of the following, without a state invovled: (a) isolated Robinsonades, with human action and praxeology only (and personal, but not interpersonal, morals); (b) a non-normative society with trade and interaction, both cooperative and conflictual, a might-makes-right society; (c) a stateless normative society laws and rights that provide normative support for the natural aspects of action such as control of one's body and homesteading and trading of external scarce resources (and this society can be either pre-catallactic, or employ money). You can also have (d) something like (c) but with a state that undermines the normative role of private law and rights and is instead a sort of hybrid between (b) and (c). And when you have a state that assumes the power to create and enforce law including imposing punishment or sanctions on people for violating the state's criminal law, the state's claim of authority is usually cloaked in a variety of coverings that masque or even pretend to or maybe do blunt its nature. In other words, the balance between the state and its power and the populace it governs hinges on the great fiction of the state which is maintained by propaganda, by the state giving at least lip service to some obligations and duties that it has, some limits on its power, such as heeding the due process and other political or civil rights of its subjects; this can be done organically, as in Britain's unwritten "constitution," or in a written constitution such as the US Constitution that claims to authorize and limit a new state. The limits can be implied or stated as limits on power: such as in the enumerated powers structure of the constitution itself, (( See, e.g., Thomas B. McAffee, “Federalism and the Protection of Rights: The Modern Ninth Amendment’s Spreading Confusion [2],” Brigham Young University Law Review 1996, no. 2 (1996): 351–388 (arguing that the framers regarded the Constitution’s limited/enumerated powers scheme itself as a primary structural guarantor of popular rights, and that the Ninth Amendment was designed to preserve that federal structure against the risk that enumerating specific rights would be misread as creating a government of general powers limited only by the listed rights); idem, “The Bill of Rights, Social Contract Theory, and the Rights ‘Retained’ by the People,” Southern Illinois University Law Journal 16 (1992): 267–305  (arguing that the “other rights retained by the people” under the Ninth Amendment are those secured residually by the Constitution’s grant of only limited, enumerated powers to the national government, so that the amendment protects the original limited-powers design rather than authorizing judicial enforcement of unenumerated natural rights outside the written Constitution). )) or in statements about that the government may not do, or in "rights" such as those in the Bill of Rights that also limit federal government power. But such rights are not always real rights. (( By "real rights," as I am not speaking to a civil law audience, I do not mean what the civil law means, which is property rights pertaining to a "thing," a "res" (droits réels, derechos reales, iura in re), rights enforceable against the whole world (erga omnes)—as opposed to personal rights (droits personnels, iura in personam), rights against a specific person (typically arising from obligations/contracts) (which I object to in my theory of contracts; see The Title-Transfer Theory of Contract; KOL495 | “Rothbard’s Revolutionary Contract Theory,” Sociedad de la Libertad Latam (Peru): Rothbard 100: A Legacy for Future Generations). Instead I mean actual or legitimate rights, those recognized by libertarianism. )) If you wanted to limit federal power and prevent it from regulating normal crimes like murder and leave that demesne to the states, you could (attempt to) set up a government of enumerated and limited powers and just omit that power from the list. You could add something like the Tenth Amendment to emphasize the point that was already implied. This does not mean citizens have the right to commit murder, only that the fedgov has no jurisdiction over this. (( See my similar jurisdictional argument in KOL443 | Abortion: A Radically Decentralist Approach (PFS 2024). I argue that the external legal system has no jurisdiction over abortion, even if it is "murder"; it is governed by the mother's legal system itself. )) For other rights, actual rights like the right to bear arms or free speech, you could again protect this right from federal encroachment in multiple ways: you limit congress's power to regulate these activities by denying them a grant of power in an enumerated and limited powers scheme constitution; or you add a Bill of Rights limiting federal power; or both, for "great caution" as Madison said: The exceptions here or elsewhere in the Constitution, made in favor of particular rights, shall not be so construed as to diminish the just importance of other rights retained by the people, or as to enlarge the powers delegated by the Constitution; but either as actual limitations of such powers, or as inserted merely for greater caution. You could also limit the state by requiring it to respect "fake" "rights" of the citizens, like "due process,

  3. Aug 12

    KOL495 | “Rothbard’s Revolutionary Contract Theory,” Sociedad de la Libertad Latam (Peru): Rothbard 100: A Legacy for Future Generations

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 495. Lecture, "Rothbard’s Revolutionary Contract Theory," "Liberté Tribute to Rothbard on his Centenary: Rothbard 100: A Legacy for Future Generations," Sociedad de la Libertad Latam (SdL) (a Latin American think tank based in Lima, Peru) and the 5th American Youth for Liberty Forum (Aug. 12, 2026, International Youth Day; via Youtube).  Attendees  included young people with a background in libertarian thought from Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico. The speech was my English language talk interspersed with a Spanish translation by the moderator, Rosa María Apaza, Presidente SDL LATAM. https://www.youtube.com/live/CwVbyai6es4?si=vnnBw4gMTW4oMTt3 The speech I read from is below, along with other information about this event. Related KOL493 | Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape (Porto, Portugal) “The Title-Transfer Theory of Contract” A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability, ch. 9 in Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Houston, Texas: Papinian Press, 2023) KOL225 | Reflections on the Theory of Contract (PFS 2017) KOL197 | Tom Woods Show: The Central Rothbard Contribution I Overlooked, and Why It Matters: The Rothbard-Evers Title-Transfer Theory of Contract KOL020 | “Libertarian Legal Theory: Property, Conflict, and Society: Lecture 3: Applications I: Legal Systems, Contract, Fraud” (Mises Academy, 2011)  around Slide 16: slides here KOL146 | Interview of Williamson Evers on the Title-Transfer Theory of Contract https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbUXhjqqNwC/?igsh=MWxkMGg1YWd3ZzNreg== https://youtu.be/LSt3 Faltan 8 dias para disfrutar la ponencia de Stephan Kinsella en el Homenaje Liberté a Rothbard y el V Foro Americano Juventud en Libertad#DiaInternacionaldelaJuventud#12Ago Desde 10 am a 9 pm Perú via canal YT 36 speakers del continente VLLC! Tgs ONPE Alcaldia de Lima Corvetto pic.twitter.com/qTLmZDuMoL — SDLLATAM (@SDLPeru) August 5, 2026 https://www.youtube.com/live/CwVbyai6es4?si=Q70FouQ-TGBeovZI https://www.youtube.com/live/Ows6cjGVE8U?si=MjfnkVhOuXlrBzY3 🔴 Sociedad de la Libertad prepara homenaje por los 100 años del economista, filósofo e historiador Murray Rothbard Mañana #12Ago #DiaInternacionaldelaJuventud Leerhttps://t.co/R2aQjCUVO4 Link Sesion 1https://t.co/wBsTme61Jj Link 2https://t.co/um69pniTJo VLLC Tg#NotaDePrensa — SDLLATAM (@SDLPeru) August 12, 2026 *** Translations of the two newspaper articles: Translation of the first article (Diario Correo, Tacna, Monday 10 August 2026): YOUTH DAY SDL Latam commemorates the centenary of Murray Rothbard In commemoration of International Youth Day, the Society for Liberty (SDL Latam) will hold a special edition of the 5th American Youth in Liberty Forum, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Murray N. Rothbard, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century libertarian thought. The program will consist of two virtual sessions on 12 August from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and one in-person session on 14 August at 5 p.m. at the Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. During the event, researchers, academics, young leaders, and activists from various countries across the continent will participate, sharing experiences and proposals to strengthen a culture of liberty based on respect for individual rights, private property, the free market, and voluntary cooperation. Attorney Rosa María Apaza, CEO of SDL Latam, stated: “This year our fifth edition carries the slogan ‘ROTHBARD 100: A legacy for future generations.’” (Photo caption: Young people will share experiences.) Translation of the second article: ► ON THE OCCASION OF THE CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH Libertarian forum will examine the legacy of Murray Rothbard The 5th American Youth in Liberty Forum will address the continuing relevance of Murray Rothbard’s thought as the centenary of his birth is commemorated. The activity, organized by the Society for Liberty (SDL Latam), will include two virtual sessions on 12 August and one in-person session on 14 August in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. According to Rosa María Apaza, CEO of SDL Latam, the gathering will analyze Rothbard’s legacy and its relationship to economics, law, politics, and civil society. Among the announced participants are Per Bylund, Mary Ruwart, Walter Block, Miguel Anxo Bastos, and Stéphan Kinsella. The session will take place at the Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno. (Photo caption: SDL Latam spreads libertarian ideas.)     View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Sociedad de la Libertad (@sdllatam)   KINSELLA'S WRITTEN REMARKS Rothbard’s Revolutionary Contract Theory Hello, this is Stephan Kinsella. I’m a lawyer and libertarian writer in Houston, Texas. I am speaking today on Rothbard’s revolutionary contract theory, the “Title-Transfer Theory of Contract.” I have only 15 minutes, which is not enough time to go into much detail on this theory. So what I’m going to do is hit some highlights and I will mention some further resources that you can consult if you’re interested in this topic after my talk. I also want to mention that I’m doing this in an unusual way. It’s a 15-minute talk and I did not want to read a speech or write an article because I’ve written so much on this already. But the organizers wanted the written version ahead of time to translate it for you ahead of time. So I delivered this little talk earlier as a normal 15 minute speech, and then transcribed it so that it could be translated ahead of time. Today I’m going to follow my previous remarks as closely as possible so that if you’re listening in Spanish, it should closely match what I say in real time here today. It’s an experiment. I think it will work. Further Resources For more detail on what I say today in this brief talk, I would refer you to two long articles I wrote. One is a new article called “The Title Transfer Theory of Contract” coming out later this year and already on my website, www.StephanKinsella.com. And the other is a chapter in my book Legal Foundations of a Free Society, chapter 9, “A Libertarian Theory of Contract.” I also gave a speech on this at the Property and Freedom Society in 2017. It’s on my podcast, Kinsella on Liberty, episode 225, “Reflections on the Theory of Contract.” This is on my website StephanKinsella.com. And I gave a long interview on the Tom Woods Show a few years ago. It’s episode 197 of my podcast. And back in 2011, I gave a Mises Academy course on Libertarian Legal Theory, lecture three, which is episode 20 of my podcast. These go into more detail about my topic today. Finally, episode 146 is an interview I did with Williamson Evers, who along with Rothbard helped develop the title-transfer theory of contract. Why Rothbard’s Contract Theory Matters Now Murray Rothbard is most important figure in modern libertarian theory. Rothbard has many important contributions to libertarianism. This one is somewhat overlooked and underappreciated because it’s kind of legalistic. But I think it’s one of his most important. And in my podcast episode 493, I actually just spoke earlier this year in Porto, Portugal, at an event celebrating Rothbard. My topic was “Rothbard’s Greatest Hits.” I talked there about some of his greatest insights for libertarianism. And there are very many. And you may be familiar with many of those—his greatest works, The Ethics of Liberty and Man, Economy, and State, and many other works. And I mentioned very briefly his contract theory, which is my topic today. The reason this is interesting to me—it seems like a boring topic to some people—is because concept of contracts is an integral aspect of commerce and life. Everyone’s familiar with contracts. You make a contract, you write a contract, etc. The Confused State of Conventional Contract Theory Rothbard’s title-transfer theory showed the right way to view contracts, by anchoring it to property rights. It shows the proper way to show why contracts should be enforceable. Contract theory in the law for centuries has been based upon a host of confused ideas. Basically no one is quite sure what is the basis of contracts, why contracts should be binding in the law. Let’s take the Western legal systems: the common law in England and the United States and the English Commonwealth countries like Australia and Canada. And then in Europe and the civil law countries in South America and Latin America, which are all based upon the Roman law and civil codes. In all of these systems there’s a body of law called contract law, where people can make agreements which can be enforced in court. But nobody is quite sure why an agreement should be binding. Why should a promise to do or give something have a legal effect? The Problem of Detrimental Reliance Now the conventional theory is that the reason contracts should be binding or enforceable is that when you make a promise to someone, they rely upon it to their detriment—this is called “detrimental reliance”—which means they put themselves in a worse position in reliance on the promise. And because of that reliance, they would be harmed if you don’t perform. Now it’s widely known that this argument is circular because the reliance has to be reasonable—but the problem is, it’s only reasonable if the law would enforce it. But the question is, should the law enforce it? So it’s widely recognized that the foundation for modern contract law is confused and circular. Conventional contract theory is hopelessly confused. The best attempt to put contract theory on a sound footing is the consent theory of contract of libert

  4. Jul 4

    KOL494 | Schweizer Monat with Alex Buxeda Interview: Intellectual Property and Property Rights

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 494. This is my interview by Alex Buxeda of at Schweizer Monat [Swiss Monthly; linktree]; recorded June 22, 2026. Youtube shownotes: Stephan Kinsella, patent attorney, legal theorist, and one of the leading critics of intellectual property sits with Alex Buxeda to explore whether ideas can be owned. Starting from first principles, they discuss why Kinsella argues that patents and copyrights are incompatible with property rights, the role of scarcity in economics, innovation without intellectual property, pharmaceutical patents, entrepreneurship, pricing, and the philosophical foundations of ownership. Grok summary: We discussed why intellectual property is fundamentally incompatible with genuine property rights. Stephan Kinsella argued that patents and copyrights are not legitimate property but state-granted monopolies that violate real ownership of scarce, physical resources. He explained that ideas and knowledge are non-scarce and non-rivalrous — one person’s use does not prevent another’s — so enforcing IP requires aggression against others’ tangible property. We explored the flaws in common justifications for patents (especially in pharmaceuticals), the arbitrary nature of IP law, the myth that “creation” grants ownership, and how free competition and open knowledge flows drive far more innovation than government-protected monopolies. Kinsella also addressed the ethics of piracy, the distorting effects of the FDA and tariffs, and why emerging technologies like 3D printing and AI will increasingly undermine IP systems. https://youtu.be/Q4SD8pmpv1U?si=gtx2KN2CcsAbIl5s Related links/publications (Grok assist) For further discussion of the issues raised in this conversation, see the following resources by Stephan Kinsella, grouped by topic: Core Case Against IP & Property Rights Fundamentals Against Intellectual Property (2001/2008) — Kinsella’s foundational monograph making the case that patents and copyrights are incompatible with libertarian property rights based on scarcity and homesteading. The Problem with Intellectual Property (2025) — A comprehensive recent paper arguing that IP rights are unjust state-granted monopolies that violate legitimate property rights in scarce resources. Against Intellectual Property After Twenty Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward (2022) — Updated reflections on the original arguments, addressing common objections and developments since 2001. Intellectual Property Rights as Negative Servitudes (2011) — Argues that IP functions as non-consensual negative servitudes on others’ physical property, violating true property rights. Another Way to Explain the Problem with IP: Resources v. Knowledge; Ownership v. Possession (2017) — Clear distinction between scarce resources (subject to ownership) and non-scarce knowledge/ideas. The Prior-Later Distinction (2026) — Clarifies the foundational role of first-use (prior appropriation) in property rights theory. Structural Unity of Real and Intellectual Property? (2025) — Examines (and rejects) attempts to unify real and intellectual property conceptually. Scarcity, Ideas, Labor Theory & Creationism Critiques Ideas are Free: The Case Against Intellectual Property (2010) — Explains why ideas and knowledge are non-scarce and why libertarians were mistaken in supporting IP. Libertarian Lockean Creationism (2025) — Critique of the mistaken “creation” theory of property rights often used to defend IP. Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory Locke’s Big Mistake (Transcript) (2013) Hume on Intellectual Property and the Problematic Labor Metaphor (2011) On the Danger of Metaphors in Scientific Discourse (2011) Objectivist Law Prof Mossoff on Copyright; or, the Misuse of Labor, Value, and Creation Metaphors (2008) How We Come to Own Ourselves (2006) — Explains self-ownership and original appropriation, central to why IP conflicts with libertarian property theory. Superabundant Bananas & Property Rights as Normative Support for Possession (2025) — Further clarification on scarcity, superabundance, and the nature of property rights. Pharmaceuticals, FDA & Market Distortions Patents and Pharmaceuticals (2023) Are Patents Needed to Make Up for FDA Kneecapping? (2011) FDA and Patent Reform: A Modest Proposal (2023) Milton Friedman on the Distorting Effect of Patents (2011) Drug Reimportation (2009) — Discussion of reimportation, free trade, and how patents distort pharmaceutical pricing. Tabarrok: Patent Policy on the Back of a Napkin (2012) — Critique of simplistic patent policy arguments. KOL469 | Tabarrok on Patents, Price Controls, and Drug Reimportation Practical & Reform Topics Do Business Without Intellectual Property (2014) How to Improve Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Law (2011) The American Invents Act and Patent Reform (2011) IP Law and Market Failure (2022) Intellectual Nonsense: Fallacious Arguments for IP (2012/2021) — Critique of common fallacious pro-IP arguments. Copyright Absurdities & Other Examples Libraries Prepare to Burn Foreign Books, Courtesy Copyright Law (2011) — Striking example of the absurd real-world effects of copyright enforcement. Historical Libertarian & Objectivist Views on IP Rothbard and the Galambosians (2005) — Discussion of extreme pro-IP views within libertarian circles and Rothbard’s perspective. The Galambosians Strike Back (2015) Around This Time I Met the Galambosian (2013) Rand Chose IP: Death Over Life (2025) — Critique of Ayn Rand’s strong support for IP. IP: The Objectivists Strike Back (2009) — Response to Objectivist defenses of IP. Why Objectivists Hate Anarchy (2009) — Broader context on Objectivist-libertarian tensions, including IP. Purpose of Law, Schizophrenic State & Broader Theory The Purpose of Law: Justice and Property Rights (2026) The Schizophrenic State (2006) — Classic piece on the contradictory nature of state actions regarding monopolies and competition. Foundational Libertarian Theory Legal Foundations of a Free Society (2023) Disentangling Legal and Economic Concepts (2025) The Title-Transfer Theory of Contract (2024) A Libertarian Theory of Contract (2003) What Libertarianism Is (2009) Recent Audio/Lectures KOL489 | The Problem with Intellectual Property (Audio) (2026) KOL483 | The Economics and Ethics of Intellectual Property (2026) KOL491 | Trying to Persuade Paul Cwik of the Case Against IP KOL253 | Berkeley Fed Soc: Libertarian’s Case Against IP KOL469 | Tabarrok on Patents, Price Controls, and Drug Reimportation These resources expand on the core themes of scarcity versus ideas, negative servitudes, pharmaceutical patent issues, market distortions, FDA interactions, practical business strategies, Locke’s labor theory mistakes, contract theory, self-ownership, metaphors in discourse, Objectivist views on IP, the purpose of law, and libertarian first principles discussed in the interview. Shownotes (Grok) Podcast Shownotes Episode Title: Stephan Kinsella: Why Intellectual Property is Incompatible with Property Rights Guest: Stephan Kinsella (retired patent attorney & libertarian legal theorist) Host: Alex Buxeda Episode Summary Stephan Kinsella delivers a rigorous, first-principles critique of patents and copyright. He argues that IP is not property at all, but a government-granted monopoly that violates genuine property rights in scarce resources. Drawing on Austrian economics and libertarian ethics, he explains why ideas are non-scarce, why IP slows innovation, and why free markets and competition are superior engines of progress. A clear, uncompromising defense of abolishing intellectual property. Total Runtime: ~1 hour 22 minutes Key Topics & Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction and Practical Market Realities Kinsella begins by noting that entrepreneurs can use strategies like loss leaders and price discrimination, but cartels and monopolies are hard to sustain due to competition and cheating — setting the stage for his deeper critique of state-enforced monopolies like IP. 1:00 – Kinsella’s Journey from Pro-IP to Abolitionist As a former patent attorney and lifelong libertarian, Kinsella originally accepted Ayn Rand’s defense of IP. After deep study while practicing patent law, he concluded that IP is literally unjustifiable and incompatible with property rights. This realization forced him to refine his understanding of libertarian property theory, relying more heavily on Mises, Rothbard, and Hoppe. 4:22 – Core Argument: Scarcity, Property Rights, and Why Ideas Are Not Property Property rights exist solely to resolve conflicts over scarce, rivalrous resources. Ideas and knowledge are non-scarce — one person’s use does not prevent another’s simultaneous use. Granting IP rights therefore requires using force against others’ legitimate physical property (factories, printers, materials), creating artificial conflict rather than resolving it. IP is not ownership of information; it is a negative servitude on real property. 14:55 – The Pharmaceutical Patent Defense and Why It Fails Kinsella directly refutes the claim that expensive R&D requires patents. High drug costs stem primarily from FDA regulation, not invention. Patents create monopoly pricing and slow knowledge diffusion, which is the true source of long-term progress. He criticizes utilitarian “market failure” arguments, arbitrary patent terms, and the state’s schizophrenic approach (granting monopolies via patents while attacking monopolies via antitrust). Free markets naturally reward first movers with temporary profits before competition drives prices down. 31:45 – Arbitrariness of IP and the Myth of “Creation” as a Source of Rights Patent and copyright durations are completely arbitrary....

  5. Jun 29

    KOL493 | Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape (Porto, Portugal)

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 493. This is my talk "Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape," delivered at “100 Years with Rothbard,” Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026  (iPhone audio). https://youtu.be/1hNkL_a3Pcc?si=hzYou5BvUTpZvenl This was a simply wonderful event. As noted here, 100 Years with Rothbard was held yesterday in beautiful Porto, Portugal (June 27, 2026), sponsored by several Portuguese libertarian groups: Mises Portugal, Catalaxia, Don’t Trust Verify (bitcoin podcast), ZugaTV (libertarian podcast), and Golpe de Estado Podcast (ancap podcasters). It featured and was attended by a number of Property and Freedom Society (PFS) members, including myself, Hans Hoppe and Gülçin Imre Hoppe, Saifedean Ammous, Thomas Jacob, Gregory and Joy Morin, and Alessandro and Domitia Fusillo. Hoppe, and Ammous and I spoke at the conference along with others. It was a wonderful event, attended by hundreds from Portugal and many other countries. In addition to the speeches, the cloth print version of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment was presented and released yesterday, as was its Brazilian Portuguese translation, 100 Anos de Rothbard: Uma Homenagem e Apreciação, as well as Fundamentos Legais de uma Sociedade Livre, the European Portuguese translation of my book Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Houston, Texas: Papinian Press, 2023). A full report of the conference will be published presently. In the meantime, for an outside commentary see Rothbard 100, in Porto: A Misunderstood Genius in a Room of People Who Understood. Related 100 Years with Rothbard Rothbard 100, in Porto: A Misunderstood Genius in a Room of People Who Understood Rothbard at 100: First Hardcopies Printed A few pictures and tweets below, and my speaking notes. Photos Rothbard at 100 Porto June 2026 - Manuel Ogando, the organizer Rothbard at 100 Porto June 2026 - Kinsella on Stage Rothbard at 100 Porto June 2026 Rothbard chocolates Tweets I stole your photo. Apologies for not mentioning you, I arrived late https://t.co/vAMa9BkNVq — beegarc. (@beegarc_) June 28, 2026 The Rothbard 100 conference in Porto was an amazing success With H. H. Hoppe, @NSKinsella, @saifedean and many others Congrats and many thanks to the organizers, especially @mcaogando https://t.co/3iCBFcp2e1 pic.twitter.com/LV58GtDSt7 — Yorick de Mombynes (@ydemombynes) June 28, 2026 FYMNR! pic.twitter.com/8X72NbRJwZ — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) June 27, 2026 Terminou o evento https://t.co/vcORQSJOpN O melhor e mais memorável evento que participei e vejo que é opinião também de muitos dos palestrantes. O libertarianismo português lembra muito o brasileiro pre-covid. A oportunidade que eles têm nas mãos é gigantesca e o conteúdo… — Fhoer 🧉 (@Fhoer_here) June 27, 2026 Listening to the greats, Hans-Hermann Hoppe and @NSKinsella, at the Rothbard at 100 conference in Porto. pic.twitter.com/OcL1z4Tv9M — Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) June 27, 2026 A palestra do Kinsella no evento deixa algo muito claro: Não se levem tanto a sério, ao menos não o tempo todo O aprendizado ficar mais palatável, leve e até mesmo cativante. O Rothbard dos livros, artigos e teses era o mesmo das piadas, peças e memes. Se você não conseguir… pic.twitter.com/y48MqYkduT — Fhoer 🧉 (@Fhoer_here) June 28, 2026 Podcast with @R38TAO, so to speak https://t.co/ERtwAtMIp0 — Hans-Hermann Hoppe (@HoppeQuotes) June 28, 2026 A palestra do Kinsella no evento deixa algo muito claro: Não se levem tanto a sério, ao menos não o tempo todo O aprendizado ficar mais palatável, leve e até mesmo cativante. O Rothbard dos livros, artigos e teses era o mesmo das piadas, peças e memes. Se você não conseguir… pic.twitter.com/y48MqYkduT — Fhoer 🧉 (@Fhoer_here) June 28, 2026 Happy 100th birthday Murray Rothbard, so to speak! With @NSKinsella in Porto 🇵🇹https://t.co/koamzNCSzJ pic.twitter.com/lP89ikB9Eb — Hans-Hermann Hoppe (@HoppeQuotes) June 28, 2026 Os memes que plantamos 8 anos atrás renderam frutos, juros e dividendos. pic.twitter.com/rVWOAZlFlg — Fhoer 🧉 (@Fhoer_here) June 27, 2026 FYMNR! pic.twitter.com/8X72NbRJwZ — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) June 27, 2026 In Porto 🇵🇹, so to speak pic.twitter.com/dxDa0SGeVK — Hans-Hermann Hoppe (@HoppeQuotes) June 27, 2026   Grok Notes from my Shownotes Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape Recorded live at the Rothbard at 100 conference Porto, Portugal • June 27, 2026 Presented by Stephan Kinsella Property and Freedom Society • C4SIF.org In this entertaining and insightful talk, Stephan Kinsella delivers his personal “greatest hits” selection from Murray Rothbard’s enormous body of work — the ideas, arguments, and even the funniest moments that have influenced him most over the decades. Show Notes & Key Points Libertarianism and Rothbard Kinsella has been a libertarian since high school (age ~15) — about 45 years. He became a Rothbard fan just a couple of years later, as soon as he started reading him. He has been an intellectual property attorney for ~33 years (since 1993) and has been opposed to IP for the same length of time. Rothbard’s Greatest Hits – A Personal Mix Tape In his chapter in the new book Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment (edited by Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe), Kinsella highlights Rothbard’s most important and interesting insights. He compares the talk to making a “Rothbard greatest hits” mix tape — the kind he used to make for girlfriends — or even a mix containing only the guitar solos from his favorite band, Rush (another passion he’s had since age 15). Others’ Favorite Rothbard Works Rothbard was incredibly prolific. Here are some of his most popular and influential works mentioned: Man, Economy, and State Power and Market For a New Liberty The Ethics of Liberty Conceived in Liberty (multi-volume) America’s Great Depression What Has Government Done to Our Money? An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought The Betrayal of the American Right Anatomy of the State The Progressive Era “War Guilt in the Middle East” Highly recommended collections: The Free Market Reader The Irrepressible Rothbard (2000) Making Economic Sense (1996) Economic Controversies (2011) One of the best pieces ever written about Rothbard is Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s introduction to the 1998 edition of The Ethics of Liberty. Kinsella’s Personal Favorites These are the ideas and writings Kinsella has found most useful, interesting, or clever: The Dog That Did Not Bark (Rothbard on IP) At a 1988 panel discussion on ethics with Rothbard, Hoppe, and others, someone asked Hoppe whether personal sovereignty extends to knowledge and ideas. Hoppe’s answer: “In order to have a thought you must have property rights over your body. That doesn’t imply that you own your thoughts. The thoughts can be used by anybody who is capable of understanding them.” Rothbard remained silent. Hoppe later said he believes Rothbard was “almost there” and would have adopted the full anti-IP position had he lived longer. Contract Theory – Title-Transfer Theory One of Rothbard’s most important contributions (developed with Williamson Evers) is the title-transfer theory of contract. Rothbard suggested the idea, Evers wrote it up, and Rothbard later used it in The Ethics of Liberty. This theory finally makes coherent sense of contract law as an extension of property rights rather than a separate mystical category. Utility and Welfare Economics In “Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics” (in Economic Controversies), Rothbard emphasized that value is not a measurable, cardinal quantity that can be interpersonally compared — a point also stressed by Mises. Taxonomy of State Intervention In Power and Market, Rothbard systematically classifies state interventions as: Autistic Binary (e.g., taxation) Triangular (e.g., antitrust, licensing, and intellectual property) Kinsella notes that IP is a classic triangular intervention — a nonconsensual negative servitude that lets the IP holder control other people’s property. The Funny Rothbard Rothbard had a sharp wit. Some highlights Kinsella loves: “Mozart Was a Red” — a hilarious play mocking “dimwit and serioso” Randians. “Hoppephobia” (Liberty magazine, March 1990) — Rothbard’s response to a critical review of Hoppe’s book. Classic line: Hoppe’s work has the “remarkable capacity to send some readers up the wall, blood pressure soaring, muttering and chewing the carpet.” The Galambos story: A Galambosian author who believed in perpetual IP sent Rothbard a $100 check for using his ideas. Rothbard returned it, saying that if the author really believed in owning ideas, he owed all his royalties, not just $100. Critiques of Nozick and Georgism Rothbard’s devastating critique of Robert Nozick’s argument for the minimal state in “Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State.” Complete demolition of Georgism in “The Single Tax: Economic and Moral Implications” and the reply to Georgist criticisms. (Kinsella adds: “Egads, I hate Georgism.”) Method Next to The Ethics of Liberty, Kinsella finds Rothbard’s essays in Economic Controversies (especially Part One: Method) among the most useful. He compares them to the first 100 pages of Mises’ Human Action on methodology. Resources & Further Reading Book: Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment — Available at PropertyAndFreedom.org Kinsella’s chapter & related article: Read here IP as Negative Servitudes: C4SIF.org article Stephan Kinsella’s site: StephanKinsella.com C4SIF: C4SIF.org Property and Freedom Society: PropertyAndFreedom.org Kinsella Slide Shownotes From powerpoint: Stephan Kinsella .

  6. Jun 13

    KOL492 | Menger Institute Podcast #6: Property Rights, Patents, Anarchy, Patents, Anarchy, Technology, Long-Term Hope for Freedom and the Technological Death of the State

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 492. https://youtu.be/wORPhS6dTv4?si=m01gSOxqjHJ3vDEW This is my interview by Matthew Geiger of the Carl Menger Institute for Menger Institute Podcast #6 (recorded June 11, 2026). Shownotes and transcript below. Related tweet: at 13:20, defending the late Millennials and early Gen Z against snide criticisms of their plight--living with their parents, working at Starbucks, playing video games, not having kids, and so on--by the older generations who did this to them. Inflation, s****y schools, the debt… — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) June 14, 2026 Related links TBD Shownotes (Grok) Podcast Show Notes Episode Title: Stephan Kinsella: From Patent Attorney to Anarcho-Libertarian Theorist – Property Rights, IP, Bitcoin, and the Future of Liberty Guest: Stephan Kinsella – Retired patent attorney, prolific libertarian writer, anarcho-libertarian legal theorist, and key figure associated with the Mises Institute and Property and Freedom Society. Episode Summary: Matthew Geiger sits down with Stephan Kinsella for a deep, wide-ranging conversation covering Kinsella’s personal journey into libertarianism, the philosophical foundations of libertarian thought, the critical importance of property rights, the case against intellectual property, generational challenges, technological disruption, foreign policy critiques, and an optimistic long-term vision for human freedom. Topics & Timestamps Introduction 0:00 Matthew Geiger welcomes listeners to the Menger Institute podcast and introduces Stephan Kinsella as a retired patent attorney and libertarian writer. Kinsella expresses his excitement about the conversation. How Stephan Kinsella Discovered Libertarianism 0:19 Matthew Geiger asks Kinsella to share his personal story, including his work with Murray Rothbard and Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Kinsella recounts growing up in a conservative Louisiana household with little political or economic knowledge. A librarian gave him The Fountainhead in high school, sparking his interest in philosophy, individualism, and free-market economics. He read voraciously, quickly became a libertarian, then an Austrian, and eventually an anarchist during college and law school. He practiced oil & gas, international, and eventually patent law for 30 years while pursuing libertarian theory as an avocation, attending Mises Institute events since 1995. Libertarian vs. Anarchist: Definitions and Preferences 2:17 Matthew Geiger asks about the distinction between calling oneself a libertarian versus an anarchist. Kinsella explains different axes of libertarianism (activism vs. theory vs. personal conduct) and argues that libertarianism is a consistent extension of classical liberalism centered on self-ownership and Lockean property rights. He details why the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) is actually a shorthand for a deeper cluster of property rules — homesteading, contract, and rectification — rather than a standalone axiom. He makes the case that the most consistent libertarians are anarchists, while minarchists are libertarians with an asterisk, and classical liberals are close intellectual cousins but not true libertarians. Matthew Geiger on Labels and Consistency 10:19 Matthew Geiger shares his own thoughts on the dilution of the term “libertarian” and his preference for “anarchist.” He discusses taking the label back from the left and echoes Hoppe’s view that the state is always socialist. Geiger and Kinsella agree that the most principled position is anarcho-libertarianism (or Austro-libertarianism), which recognizes the natural emergence of hierarchy, authority, norms, and social consequences in a free society — things many modern libertarians mistakenly reject. Younger Generations, Cultural Shifts, and Advice 13:23 Matthew Geiger asks about cultural and political trends among younger generations, referencing Javier Milei’s popularity, and requests advice for them. Kinsella sympathizes with Gen Z and Millennials, blaming previous generations for poor education, inflation, debt, and making normal life unaffordable. He advises libertarians to adopt a long-term perspective, read Albert Jay Nock’s Isaiah’s Job, focus on being part of the “remnant,” maintain balance in life (career, finances, family), and avoid burning out on short-term activism. He also reflects on how the libertarian movement has grown larger, more international, and more radical since the 2008 Ron Paul campaign, though newer adherents tend to be less well-read. Optimism About Technology, Fragmentation, and the Future 21:40 Matthew Geiger expresses optimism about technology, the internet, AI, and the erosion of state monopolies on force and information. Kinsella shares a cautious but ultimately hopeful outlook. He discusses the benefits of media fragmentation (less centralized propaganda), the logic of Bitcoin succeeding on its own merits rather than activism, and why liberty, if achieved, will be because it is natural and inevitable. He touches on the Fermi paradox and great filter while maintaining long-term civilizational optimism. Foreign Policy, Economics, and IP Imperialism 31:59 Matthew Geiger circles back to connections between culture, foreign policy, and monetary policy, critiquing U.S. aid to Israel and mercantilist justifications. Kinsella delivers a sharp analysis of Pax Americana, dollar hegemony, the military-industrial complex, and how the U.S. exports inflation while benefiting certain industries. He describes “IP imperialism” — patents and copyrights — as tools that allow Hollywood, Big Pharma, and defense contractors to extract wealth from the rest of the world. Stephan Kinsella on Decentralization, IP, and the Future of the State 36:14 The conversation continues with Matthew Geiger noting decentralization in music production. Kinsella explains how technology (internet, streaming, piracy) has already weakened copyright and predicts 3D printing, robotics, and AI could eventually undermine pharmaceutical patents. He launches into a passionate critique of intellectual property as one of the most anti-libertarian, innovation-harming policies in existence. He envisions technology enabling greater self-sufficiency, causing the state to gradually wither away like the British monarchy — becoming largely ceremonial while private enterprise and civil society take over most functions. Kinsella ends on a hopeful, if long-term, note about humanity maturing beyond tribalism and primitive superstitions. Closing Thoughts and Resources 55:08 Stephan Kinsella promotes the Property and Freedom Society’s annual conference in Turkey, the new book Rothbard at 100, and his “Universal Principles of Liberty” project (a concise statement of libertarian legal principles). Matthew Geiger thanks Kinsella and expresses interest in attending future events. Links & Resources: Stephan Kinsella: stephankinsella.com Property and Freedom Society: propertyandfreedom.org Rothbard at 100 (pre-order available) Mises Institute Episode Length: Approximately 58 minutes This episode offers a rich blend of personal history, rigorous libertarian theory, sharp cultural commentary, and forward-looking optimism. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Austrian economics, property rights, critiques of intellectual property, and the future of freedom. Transcript Introduction 0:00 Matthew Geiger: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Menger Institute podcast. We have a very special guest. We have with us a retired patent attorney and libertarian writer, Stephan Kinsella. Welcome to the Menger Institute podcast. Stephan Kinsella: Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm very excited to talk to you. How Stephan Kinsella Discovered Libertarianism 0:19 Matthew Geiger: I want to begin, I think, with how you got into libertarianism, your work with Murray Rothbard and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and yeah if you could tell us your story. Stephan Kinsella: Well I am, as you mentioned, retired. I did patent law, I did various types of law for about 30 years in private practice in the US: oil and gas law first and then international law and then patent law. So I've done a variety. In the later part a lot of high-tech law. But on the side, I also did a lot of libertarian writing and thinking because I've been interested in it since about high school. I am from Louisiana. I just came from a conservative household but had zero political or economic knowledge or even historical knowledge. But a librarian gave me The Fountainhead to read in high school and I read it and that got me interested in philosophy and free market economics and individualism. So I started reading voraciously and very soon became a libertarian and then of course reading the Austrians like Mises and Rothbard and the others pretty soon became an Austrian libertarian and then an anarchist. And I've been like that since college or law school. In law school and after I started trying to expand or develop the theories I've been reading to make some progress where I thought I could. And so that's sort of been my avocation all these years as a lawyer and now it's my main hobby or interest. So that's how I got interested in it and I started attending Mises Institute events in 1995 and did that for many years. Libertarian vs. Anarchist: Definitions and Preferences 2:17 Matthew Geiger: This may be a question of semantics but you say libertarian and I want to know what your distinction is or preference for describing yourself as libertarian or anarchist. Stephan Kinsella: Yes, I've always been, so in my view there are two types of libertarians in the sense of your interest. One is activism, that is being part of some movement trying to make change, and then the other is just being interested in the ideas, and then the other is just being a libertarian, like acting in a peaceful way and following those rules....

  7. Jun 10

    KOL491 | Trying to Persuade Paul Cwik of the Case Against IP

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 491. https://youtu.be/lfjpoKCWBDA I've known Paul Cwik, Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Mount Olive and fellow of the Mises Institute since I started attending the Austrian Scholars Conference in 1995. He is an Austrian and libertarian of sorts but had some qualms with my anti-IP writing so presented a paper "Is There Room for Intellectual Property Rights in Austrian Economics?" at the Austrian Scholars Conference in 2008, which I attended and commented on. After 18 years we finally decided to get around to talking about this. I had planned on an hour but we ended up talking for 3. It turns out we were old friends but not that close; we didn't know much about each other. So the first 30-50 minutes or so is more preliminary discussion. To his credit, he read a good deal of the huge deluge of material I sent to read up on and asked many very good questions. He did not engage in intentional equivocation that is characteristic of many on the pro-IP side, and he was reasonable in conceding many of my points and was willing to ponder my push back. I was hoping to get him to see the light, since I have in person seen many people change their minds on IP after a long discussion but have never had it happen while recording. We did not resolve the issue, partly because we just didn't have enough time to keep going, but I think we made some progress. Maybe we will have a Part 2 later. Who knows. For now, some relevant links pertaining to some of the topics discussed. I will organize this better later. (Not to be confused with Bryan Cwik, who also has opinions on IP: “Good Ideas is Pretty Scarce”; Bryan Cwik, "Property Rights in Non‐rival Goods" (2, 3, 4); "Labor as the Basis for Intellectual Property Rights" (2; 3); Gamrot, Labor as the Basis for Intellectual Property Rights: Against Cwik.) IP Proponents Do Not Even Know The Difference Between Patent, Copyright, Trademark …  Types of Intellectual Property It is impossible to own ideas Intellectual Property Rights as Negative Servitudes The “Ontology” Mistake of Libertarian Creationists See the Appendix to What Libertarianism Is: section “Concept and Definition of “Property”” The Structural Unity of Real and Intellectual Property Gamrot, Labor as the Basis for Intellectual Property Rights: Against Cwik The “Ontology” Mistake of Libertarian Creationists Objectivists: “All Property is Intellectual Property” A Recurring Fallacy: “IP is a Purer Form of Property than Material Resources” New Working Paper: Machan on IP “Aggression” versus “Harm” in Libertarianism Kinsella v. Schulman on Logorights and IP The Nature, Properties, and Characteristics of Goods (Igloo Coolers case) Fraud, Restitution, and Retaliation: The Libertarian Approach Libertarian Answer Man: Bitcoin and Fraud KOL274 | Nobody Owns Bitcoin (PFS 2019) On Property Rights in Superabundant Bananas and Property Rights as Normative Support for Possession Libertarian Answer Man: Self-ownership for slaves and Crusoe; and Yiannopoulos on Accurate Analysis and the term “Property”; Mises distinguishing between juristic and economic categories of “ownership” There are No Good Arguments for Intellectual Property Defamation as a Type of Intellectual Property (and trademark) KOL207 | Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Are Not About Plagiarism, Theft, Fraud, or Contract KOL020 | “Libertarian Legal Theory: Property, Conflict, and Society: Lecture 3: Applications I: Legal Systems, Contract, Fraud” (Mises Academy, 2011) Copying vs. Plagiarism: A Recent Illustration—Grau vs. Hernandez on Milei Re the practice of attribution and credit: see Stephan Kinsella, “Mises, Rothbard, Hoppe: An Indispensable Framework,” in  Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, eds. (Houston: Papinian Press and Property and Freedom Society, 2026), in the section “Excursus: The Role of Ideas in Human Action” “Copying, Patent Infringement, Copyright Infringement are not “Theft”, Stealing, Piracy, Plagiarism, Knocking Off, Ripping Off“ Intellectual Property Rights as Negative Servitudes Stop calling patent and copyright “property”; stop calling copying “theft” and “piracy” IP Proponents Do Not Even Know The Difference Between Patent, Copyright, Trademark …  Fraud: A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability, Part III.E “The Title-Transfer Theory of Contract,” Part IV.C Labor and Leisure Rothbard on the Main Fallacy of our Time: Marx’s Labor Theory of Value KOL037 | Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory “Hume on Intellectual Property and the Problematic “Labor” Metaphor” Cordato and Kirzner on Intellectual Property Labor, Value, Metaphors, Locke, Intellectual Property Concise Tweet on the Problem with IP Against Intellectual Property After Twenty Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward: Part IV.D: "Overreliance on “labor” metaphors also leads to confusion about IP. Locke correctly argued that the first person to “mix his labor with” an unowned resource owns it, since he thereby establishes an objective link to the resource which gives him a better claim to it than latecomers.[55] However, Locke based his argument on the confused and unnecessary idea that a person “owns” his labor and “therefore” owns resources that he mixes it with. But labor is not owned—it is an action, something a person performs with his body, which he does own—and this assumption is not needed for the Lockean labor-mixture argument to work.[56] This mistaken notion leads some people to favor IP because they figure that if you own a scarce resource because you mix your labor with it, you also own useful ideas that are produced with your labor. The related Smith-Ricardo-Marx labor theory of value, which underlies Marxism and socialism, is also sometimes used to support IP, as when people argue that if you work or labor, you “deserve” some kind of reward or profit. All this focus on labor must be rejected as overly metaphorical and confused, and, frankly, Marxian.[57]" On Libertarian Legal Theory, Self-Ownership and Drug Laws: p. 632 Libertarianism After Fifty Years: What Have We Learned?, p. 687 Creationism: Libertarian and Lockean Creationism: Creation As a Source of Wealth, not Property Right Libertarian Creationism KOL012 | “The Intellectual Property Quagmire, or, The Perils of Libertarian Creationism,” Austrian Scholars Conference 2008 KOL037 | Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory Update: someone asked me: Dear, Mr. Kinsella First of all, thank you for your generosity in sharing your knowledge online. I've learned an enormous amount from the lectures and writings you've made available. My question concerns a passing comment you made in your conversation with Paul Cwik. Around 2:28:55, you said, "I'm skeptical of the concept of Cantillon, but that's my Austrian heresy." and then moved on without returning to it. I wished you had because I've searched your site without finding a fuller treatment, and I don't recall any other Austrian expressing doubt regarding the Cantillon effect. As I understand the Cantillon effect: when new money is created (whether fiat or commodity), those who receive it first can spend it at prevailing prices before the market adjusts to the higher money supply. This causes economic suffering for those farthest away from the new money. Under the gold standard, this is seen as unfortunate but simply the way of things; under fiat, the new money is completely arbitrary and hence the Cantillon effect is one of the main things the Austrians point to when arguing against fiat currency. This all seems perfectly valid to me so I would be grateful if you can elaborate on why you said you were "skeptical" of Cantillon. My response: because it seems to me focus on a minor effect. The problem wtih the state printing money is not that hte first people get it first. It's that the state gets to spend it. That is what causes inflation and in effect transfers wealth from the populace to the dollar-printer. As an example suppose th US gov has zero taxes and spends $1T a year on defense: buying tanks, jets, ships. It prints $1T and just spends it: it buys the equipment with this new money. It gets $1T worth of stuff for free. Who pays for it? Everryone else b/c the price level goes up. The value of their money held goes down in purchasing power. This is not because the sellers of the jets get the all the benefit. If I spend $1T of new money on a $1T defense system, the seller doens't make $1T. They have costs. So they might make 7% profit off of their $930M costs. The beneficiary of the "free stuff" is not the defense contractor but the state: it gets stuff for free by robbing the general population of money hodlers. The fact that the airplane manufacturer "gets the money first' doesn't change the fact--not much anyway--that basically they have to buy serivce and materials to make the goods and then they get the payment from the state and they only make a normal profit, just like anone else would. but I am not 100% sure about this Part III.C.2 C. Contract and Fraud Arguments for IP Fraud and Plagiarism “Copying, Patent Infringement, Copyright Infringement are not “Theft”, Stealing, Piracy, Plagiarism, Knocking Off, Ripping Off“ IP by Contract I discuss problems with the contractual argument for IP in: Kinsella (2008, pp. 51–55) — Against Intellectual Property Kinsella, April 8, 2025. “KOL458 | Patent and Copyright versus Innovation, Competition, and Property Rights (APEE 2025).” Kinsella on Liberty Podcast. Link Kinsella, Law and Intellectual Property in a Sta

  8. May 28

    KOL490 | Libertarian Christian Institute: Rothbard at 100: Why His Ideas Still Matter, with Stephan Kinsella

    Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 490. This is my interview by Cody Cook (@CantusFirmusCC) of the Libertarian Christian Institute (@LCIOfficial), whose show I've been on previously, (( KOL388 | Cantus Firmus with Cody Cook: Against Intellectual Property. )) and whose book, Faith Seeking Freedom: Libertarian Christian Answers to Tough Questions, I endorsed, to discuss my recent book Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment (2026). Episode: Rothbard at 100: Why His Ideas Still Matter, with Stephan Kinsella (May 22, 2026 (recorded May 5, 2026)). Cody was an excellent interviewer, which is one reason I think this was one of my most comfortable and relaxed performances ever. https://youtu.be/VrxyNvzTonE?si=YWammoXzdzEmFfJo From his longer article Rothbard at 100: Why His Ideas Still Matter, with Stephan Kinsella (May 22, 2026): *** If he hadn’t passed away in 1995, Murray Rothbard would have turned one hundred this year. Why do his ideas still endure, inspire, and provoke? The answer isn’t nostalgia. It’s that Rothbard’s ideas continue to shape libertarian thought, economics, and the case for a free society in ways few thinkers ever have. His influence is visible in the modern liberty movement, in the resurgence of Austrian economics, and in the ongoing debates about property, the state, and intellectual freedom. Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella), co-editor of the new book Rothbard at 100, joins Cody Cook to explain why Rothbard’s legacy endures. The episode argues that Rothbard still matters because he built a framework that remains indispensable for understanding political economy, human action, and the moral limits of state power. The Case for Rothbard: Ten Reasons Why Rothbard Still Matters 1. Rothbard helped define the modern libertarian movement Rothbard stands at the foundation of the post‑war libertarian tradition, synthesizing Austrian economics, natural rights theory, and radical anti‑statism into a coherent worldview. The episode argues that without him, the movement would lack its intellectual backbone. This is one of the core reasons Rothbard still matters: he built the architecture others now inhabit. 2. He systematized libertarianism into a full philosophy Where earlier thinkers offered fragments, Rothbard produced treatises. Man, Economy, and State, Power and Market, and The Ethics of Liberty form a unified system of economics, ethics, and political theory. That system continues to anchor libertarian scholarship. 3. Rothbard advanced Austrian economics beyond Mises Rothbard didn’t merely popularize Mises; he extended him. His corrections to monopoly theory and his insistence that state‑created privilege—not market structure—is the real source of monopoly remain central to Austrian analysis. This refinement is one of the reasons Rothbard still matters for anyone studying markets and state intervention. 4. He embraced radical conclusions others avoided Rothbard took the logic of liberty to its endpoint: anarcho‑capitalism. Even those who reject that conclusion must grapple with his arguments. His willingness to follow principles to their logical end continues to challenge libertarians who prefer half‑measures. 5. His contract theory remains groundbreaking Kinsella argues that Rothbard’s “title‑transfer theory of contract,” is one of his most overlooked achievements. It reframes contracts not as promises but as transfers of property titles. This innovation still shapes libertarian legal theory and is a key reason Rothbard still matters in debates about consent, obligation, and ownership. 6. Rothbard influenced the thinkers who influence us Hans‑Hermann Hoppe, one of the most important living libertarian theorists, was one of Rothbard’s closest students. The intellectual lineage from Mises → Rothbard → Hoppe forms a framework Kinsella calls “indispensable.” Understanding that lineage is essential for understanding today’s liberty movement. 7. He built institutions that still shape the movement Rothbard helped launch the Mises Institute and mentored scholars who now lead major libertarian organizations. His institutional legacy ensures that his ideas continue to shape research, education, and activism. 8. Rothbard’s historical works remain unmatched Conceived in Liberty and his Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought demonstrate a breadth few libertarian thinkers have matched. His historical method—tracing ideas, incentives, and power—still informs how libertarians analyze political development. 9. His mistakes sharpened later libertarian theory The episode doesn’t hide Rothbard’s errors, especially on intellectual property. Kinsella argues that Rothbard’s missteps helped clarify why scarcity, not creation, grounds property rights. Even his mistakes are reasons Rothbard still matters, because they pushed the theory forward. 10. Rothbard’s work remains accessible and alive The new Rothbard at 100 Festschrift—featuring scholars who knew him and those shaped by him—shows that his ideas continue to inspire serious scholarship. The fact that this book exists is itself a reason Rothbard still matters: his intellectual world is still expanding. Conclusion Rothbard still matters because he built something durable. His synthesis of Austrian economics, natural rights, and radical anti‑statism remains the most coherent framework for understanding liberty. The episode argues that his influence is not a relic but a living force shaping how libertarians think about property, the state, and human action. Kinsella’s case is that Rothbard’s work forms part of an indispensable triad with Mises and Hoppe. That framework continues to guide scholars, pastors, activists, and anyone seeking a principled defense of a free society. The reasons Rothbard still matters are not sentimental—they are structural. His ideas continue to do real work in the world.   Additional Resources From the Libertarian Christian Podcast “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Intellectual Property” — Kinsella’s earlier appearance on LCP discussing why IP conflicts with libertarian principles. “Faith Seeking Freedom (2nd Edition)” — Mentioned in the episode; LCI’s expanded guide to Christian libertarianism. External Reads Rothbard at 100 — The Property and Freedom Society’s tribute to Murray Rothbard, edited by Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Murray Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty — Rothbard’s core moral and political treatise; foundational for natural‑rights libertarianism. Murray Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State — His major economic work, extending Misesian praxeology. Hans‑Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism — Represents the next step in the Mises‑Rothbard‑Hoppe lineage. Stephan Kinsella, Legal Foundations of a Free Society — Kinsella’s own contribution, heavily influenced by Rothbard and discussed in the episode. Stephan Kinsella, Against Intellectual Property — Kinsella’s robust and persuasive argumentation for abandoning the notion of intellectual property.

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About

Austro-Anarchist Libertarian Legal Theory

Information

  • Creator
    Stephan Kinsella
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2026
  • Episodes
    493
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © CC0
  • Show Website
    Kinsella On Liberty

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