[LINK] Gittins on IP and the FTA

[Glen Turner]

David Boxall wrote:
Gittins wrote in the SMH:
> 
>> The thing to get clear from the outset is that IP is an unnatural act.
> 
> 
> That's a bit harsh.  A necessary evil, perhaps.

I think Gittins' point was that standard economic theory would advocate no
restrictions on the use of the photocopier and CD burner.

But this leads to a market failure of authors not being rewarded to produce
new material.  A failure which "copyright" addresses by imposing criminal
sanctions on those uses of the copier and burner which undermine the monopoly
offered to works' auithors and publishers.

Creating a monopoly is "unnatural" for economists, normally they want to see
them removed.

It's plain that its in the interests of those granted the monopoly to have
their powers extended. And the US did this very well in its FTA negotiations
in this regard.

And that's my problem with the FTA. Without having the negotiations in the
open it is impossible to tell what the trade-off for the outrageous bargain
over copyrights is. Maybe it's worthwhile, or maybe the Australian negotiators
were incompetent in this area.

Glen