Saturday, April 27, 2019

F. A. Hayek Sees a Causal Connection between Copyright Laws and Socialism; Abolishing Copyright May Liquidate the Defenders of the Welfare-Warfare State

One of the most important points that would have to be examined in such a discussion would be how far the growth of this [intellectual] class has been artificially stimulated by the law of copyright.
It would be interesting to discover how far a seriously critical view of the benefits to society of the law of copyright or the expression of doubts about the public interest in the existence of a class which makes its living from the writing of books would have a chance of being publicly stated in a society in which the channels of expression are so largely controlled by people who have a vested interest in the existing situation.
--F. A. Hayek, "The Intellectuals and Socialism," University of Chicago Law Review 16, no. 3 (Spring 1949): 420, 420n.


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