>In Malawi, harmful counterfeit drugs that injure citizens<
Obviously Orlowski believes the solution is to create a monopoly for the multinationals which naturally brings the prices of drugs down to a level that all Malawians can afford. /sarc
> we'll have a more-free society if we have fewer individual rights, and that in the long-term, destroying rewards for creators is both desirable and 'sustainable'.
Yes we will. Mostly because the "creators" (i.e. legal owners) are not usually individuals at all, but the consumers are and out-number the creators, so more people are more free - we have a more free society. Government "for the people" should ring a bell, even with Americans.
Destroying the extended reward system for creators encourages them to carry on being creative, rather than sitting back on their laurels after one success, snorting crack cocaine.
The basis for any discussion should be the "no law" state. From a state of having now laws, how far should we go, giving legal monopoly cover before there is detriment to society? It may not be arriving at the corporation from a government bank account, but how much tax-payer money should we give to that corporation? The profit is over and above what the market would support, so yes, it is state-provided taxpayer cash.
Personally, I feel there would be no great loss if One Direction disappeared into a large hole, pulling Simon Cowell with them. But that's just me. Pharmaceuticals deserve a few years. I probably wouldn't give films more than three years protection and so on. Perhaps there should be a "% of cost" trigger. You get three years if you recover your production costs. This is extended if you haven't recovered production (not marketing) costs.
Ideas are not property. They bear no resemblance to property. To call them such is intellectually dishonest. I'm not saying that there should be no protection (unlike Orlowski's "if you're not with use, you're with the terrorists" attitude), but the quid pro quo in return for monopoly protection, is public use while they are still useful.