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Re: Wednesday, August 21, 2002
So lets play with this idea that copyright is like physical property. Taken in this context the question of "If IP is the same as physical property and it should enjoy the same protections under law then why isn't there an IP tax?" always seems to come up. I never bought into it the tax IP argument but the more I think about it why not. Have the first piece of protected IP be tax free for a period of time say 10 or 15 yrs. This still keeps incentive for innovation and maintains what the legalized monopoly was originally intended to do. Then after that period expires you would be eligible to renew your IP protection on a 2 year (or some time period) basis and pay a tax proportional to the sales or income that was derived from that piece of IP each year. If you don't renew your IP protection then it goes into the public domain. This way companies like Disney can protect Mickey Mouse until the end of all IP protection but something like the 1920's and 1930's movies sitting on the shelf somewhere rotting a way can go into the public domain sooner and the public gets something for allowing the monopoly to exist. This of course assumes that congress wont extend the lifetime of the copyright and patent again but even so the public would still benfit from an IP tax and maybe we could also use some of that revenue to better fund the USPTO. regards, kevin
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