The Sovereign Title (2)

INTRODUCTION 2

Despite the freedom it brings to citizens, the economic dynamism it promotes and the appeal to individual conscience it establishes, the benefits of the ownership right has been forgotten and questioned.

On the one hand, by some who see in property the means for an exploiting class to monopolize the wealth produced by the people. On the other, by a caste which wants to maintain the established order against the renewing effects of technical progress, while ignoring the damage that its industries are causing to nature.

The right to property has been considered by some as protecting the interests of a bourgeoisie which exploits the working class. In 1840, Proudhon launched his famous assertion: “Property is theft”. Protesters consider the abolition of property rights as a way to end inequality and poverty. Karl Marx published the Communist Party Manifesto in 1848: “May the ruling classes tremble at the idea of a communist revolution! The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of all countries, unite! “

On behalf of substantive equality, the communist revolutionaries took control of the state apparatus in many countries as they implemented collectivization of the means of production. The clash between the capitalist bloc and the communist bloc unfolds for much of the 20th century.

The division of the world into two separate economic blocs ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The right to property was restored as a source of economic dynamism in most of the former collectivist countries; even in China, the new philosophy enacted by Deng Xiaoping was gradually being implemented. A concessions scheme was established to allow the exploitation of land and Chinese inventions owned by private persons. Thanks to the development of private initiative, China is gradually became one of the world’s leading nations in Research & Development (R&D).

However, even in countries which have always belong to capitalism ideology, private initiative is not developed in all its dimensions. The wealth of creative works is not considered as the true property of their authors. The responsibility of the creators is ignored or greatly reduced.

Main sources of technical progress, creative ideas do not belong to their authors; they are “of free use”. Only patent holders can have an operating monopoly to amortize their creations in the states that have granted them these privileges.

Intellectual property is subject to complex, costly and disparate practices that vary from state to state.

Many patents do not relate to genuine inventions. It is not uncommon that the investigation and trial of infringement are spread over more than a decade. Only large companies can use intellectual property rights for defense procedures of Industrial Property and international patents. A big inequality is established between large states with very large scale markets, and small states which cannot recover the R&D and commercial costs on sales in their internal markets.

The plutocratic regime promotes the maintenance of established order against change. It explains that technical progress is severely limited and that many creations, which would have made possible to bring solutions to the major problems of humanity, are not funded and never see the light of day.

The provisions of the Civil Code that allowed to exploit the full responsibility of creators were put aside.. Most of the trusts that exploit the creations of technical progress are “limited liability companies”. Shareholders are only liable to the extent of their contributions. The managers who direct them, benefit for the most part of an employee status. Money has a great mobility. Blackmailing employment is frequently used by large companies to evade their social responsibilities for the environment.

This explains why profit is practically the sole rationale for companies, and no really effective measures are taken to put an end to the terrible damage their activities cause to life on earth.

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Table of Contents

The Sovereign Title

• Introduction 1
  Introduction 2
  Introduction 3
  Introduction 4
  Introduction 5
  The intellectual property revolution : Chapter 1

(Cf) Creafree 2021