Kinsella On Liberty

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 480. This is my talk at the Liberland Constitution Christmas Party Prague 2025, Dec. 19, 2025, based on the article below, which will be included in the book based on the proceedings, First Constitutional Convention of the Free Republic of Liberland, Vít Jedlička, ed. (Dec. 19, 2025; forthcoming). The transcript is also below. Pictures of the event may be be found at Prague 2025: Liberland Constitution Celebration: Photos; also Hoppe, Fusillo, Kinsella Speak at Liberland Constitution Celebration, and Vit's post at Facebook and my facebook post. This audio is from my iphone; video and better audio, and that of other talks, will be released in due course. Related: First Constitutional Convention of the Free Republic of Liberland, Vít Jedlička, ed. (Dec. 19, 2025; forthcoming) (google docs version) Liberland press release Liberland Prepares for a Historic Christmas Celebration and Constitutional Milestone Prague 2025: Liberland Constitution Celebration: Photos Libe

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 479. Libertarian Nicholas Sinard asked me to field some questions about the referenced issues, so we did so. (Recorded Dec. 10, 2025.) https://youtu.be/DlbDlmuUPW0 Regarding our discussion of my previous comments about the definition of rights, and what rights are justified. As a definitional matter, a legal right is a legally enforceable claim to the exclusive use of a resource. As to what rights libertarians think are justified, I have discussed the idea that the only rights that are legitimate or just are those that the assertion of which cannot be coherently criticized. The reason is rooted in the logic of argumentation ethics and my estoppel defense of rights, e.g. society may justly punish those who have initiated force, in a manner proportionate to their initiation of force and to the consequences thereof, because they cannot coherently object to such punishment") Stephan Kinsella, "A Libertarian Theory of Punishment and Rights," in Legal Foundations of a Free

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 478. Related: The Universal Principles of Liberty Announcing the Universal Principles of Liberty Fusillo on the Universal Principles of Liberty and Liberland KOL473 | The Universal Principles of Liberty, with Mark Maresca of The White Pillbox Selling Does Not Imply Ownership, and Vice-Versa: A Dissection, in Legal Foundations of a Free Society A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability and Inalienability and Punishment: A Reply to George Smith, in Legal Foundations of a Free Society Disentangling Legal and Economic Concepts Dualism, Monism, Scientism, Causality, Teleology: Hoppe, Mises, Rothbard Libertarian Answer Man: Mind-Body Dualism, Self-Ownership, and Property Rights God as Slaveowner; Conversations with Murphy Mises on God KOL293 | Faith and Free Will, with Steve Mendelsohn  This is my appearance on Adam Haman’s podcast and Youtube channel, Haman Nature (Haman Nature substack), Kinsella's Legal T

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 477. As mentioned in the previous episode (KOL476), Alex Anarcho has begun a narration of Against Intellectual Property, with interspersed commentary. He has so far narrated the first two sections the first of which, "Summary of IP Law," was in KOL476. This episode is Part 2, "Libertarian Perspectives on IP." I have posted a Youtube video containing both parts. Alex assures me that narrations with commentary of the remainder of the book are forthcoming. These can be found in his Against Intellectual Property series, which includes Part I, What is intellectual property? (KOL476) and Part 2, Libertarian Perspectives on IP (this episode). KOL476 contains the transcript for both parts. Previous audio versions of AIP include KOL008 | Against Intellectual Property (audiobook) and KOL373 | Against Intellectual Property (audiobook #2). See other audio versions of my work here. Related: “The Problem with Intellectual Property" A Selection of my Best Articles and Speeches

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 476. Alex Anarcho has begun a narration of Against Intellectual Property, with interspersed commentary. (I appeared on his podcast previously; see KOL444 | Property Rights, Bitcoin, Ideas & Fungibility, with AlexAnarcho.) He has so far narrated the first two sections, the first of which, "Summary of IP Law," is in this episode. "Libertarian Perspectives on IP" follows in the next episode (KOKL477). I have posted a Youtube video containing both parts. Alex assures me that narrations with commentary of the remainder of the book are forthcoming. These can be found in his Against Intellectual Property series, which includes Part I, What is intellectual property? (this episode), and Part 2, Libertarian Perspectives on IP (KOKL477). Previous audio versions of AIP include KOL008 | Against Intellectual Property (audiobook) and KOL373 | Against Intellectual Property (audiobook #2). See other audio versions of my work here. Related: “The Problem with Intellectual Property" A

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 475. This is my guest lecture for Saifedean Ammous's course Principles of Austrian Economics II | ECON104 (recorded May 7, 2020, I believe), also now on Saylor Academy. Transcript and summary and other notes below. KOL441 | The Bitcoin Standard Podcast with Saifedean Ammous: Legal Foundations of a Free Society, Property Rights, Intellectual Property KOL314 | Patents vs. Bitcoin: The Bitcoin Standard Podcast (Saifedean Ammous) https://youtu.be/02wY_qL0qRU?si=HU40GGg8xu6Wfn3U GROK SUMMARY Summary of Economics 12 Seminar: Intellectual Property Discussion with Stephan Kinsella Introduction to Intellectual Property and Scarcity Timestamp: 0:01 In the ninth discussion seminar of Economics 12, Principles of Economics 2, host Saifedean Ammous introduces guest discussant Stephan Kinsella, who has written extensively on intellectual property (IP) and its justifications. The lecture focuses on Kinsella’s paper, which explores the legitimacy of property rights and why IP lack

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 474. “Where The Common Law Goes Wrong,” 2025 Annual Meeting, Property and Freedom Society, Bodrum, Turkey (Sep. 19, 2025). Also at PFP297 | Stephan Kinsella, Where The Common Law Goes Wrong (PFS 2025). Below are my notes, Shownotes provided by Grok, and the transcript. This recording is from my iphone. Professional recording and video will be uploaded later. See also Sebastian Wang, "Stephan Kinsella on the Common Law: Lessons from Bodrum 2025," Libertarian Alliance [UK] Blog (Sep. 19, 2025). Pix. https://youtu.be/93rGev1O-D4 Grok Shownotes Show Notes: Stephan Kinsella’s “Where the Common Law Goes Wrong” – Property and Freedom Society 2025 Annual Meeting Introduction and Context Stephan Kinsella delivered his talk, “Where the Common Law Goes Wrong,” at the Property and Freedom Society’s 2025 Annual Meeting in Bodrum, Turkey, on September 21, 2025. Introduced by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, who shared a brief anecdote about media bias in translating Donald Trump’s interactions,

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 473. https://youtu.be/soyywXASOh4?si=pHKdf6awiCXOqXGV This is my discussion with Mark Maresca, of The White Pillbox, about The Universal Principles of Liberty. (Previous episode: Kinsella as “White Pill”: Maresca, “From the White-PillBox: Part 29. Achilles Heel edition 3”.) Mark's shownotes: Recently Stephan published an exciting document, the Universal Principles of Liberty: https://stephankinsella.com/principles/ Stephan provides some background that led to the Principles, historical context, use cases, and so much more. As always, Stephan demonstrates why he is a true human White Pill. He even challenged me to White Pill him, on my reasoning behind why true free societies may be coming sooner than we think. Some of his key publications: International Investment, Political Risk, and Dispute Resolution (Oxford, 2020): http://www.kinsellalaw.com/iipr/ Against Intellectual Property (Mises Institute, 2001): http://c4sif.org/aip/ Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Papinia

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 470. From my appearance on the Ayn Rand Fan Club with Scott Schiff and William. Their Shownotes: Patent attorney, Libertarian & Ayn Rand fan Stephan Kinsella joins William & Scott to talk about his history in the liberty world and his unique view that property rights should only pertain to physical things, and not to intellectual property. They also talk about Elon Musk opening his patents and the effects of IP law on AI. https://youtu.be/ax-QhyTGxw0?si=MyuQF4TfdeJQpQND Related: Classical Liberals, Libertarians, Anarchists and Others on Intellectual Property “The Death Throes of Pro-IP Libertarianism” (Mises Daily 2010) Yet another Randian recants on IP An Objectivist Recants on IP Pro-IP “Anarchists” and anti-IP Patent Attorneys Patent Lawyers Who Oppose Patent Law “The Four Historical Phases of IP Abolitionism” “The Origins of Libertarian IP Abolitionism” The Problem with Intellectual Property A Selection of my Best Articles and Speeches on IP Gro

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 469. This is my appearance on Adam Haman’s podcast and Youtube channel, Haman Nature (Haman Nature substack), episode HN 149, “Free The DRUGS! Stephan KINSELLA Counters Economist Alex TABARROK On Price Controls | Hn 149” (recorded June 25,  2025). Tabarrok seems to be generally pro-free market and an Austrian or fellow traveler. However, although he sometimes criticizes existing IP law, he is not opposed to intellectual property (IP), unlike all the cool Austro-libertarians. (( The Death Throes of Pro-IP Libertarianism. )) And he often proposes changes to IP law—sometimes outrageously goofy ones, such as his truly insane idea of replacing the patent system with $3.5 trillion worth of taxpayer subsidies (if you take his logic for a taxpayer funded "medical innovation price fund" to its limit apply it to all forms of patented innovation and other forms of IP like copyright) (( $30 Billion Taxfunded Innovation Contracts: The “Progressive-Libertarian” Solution; Libertarian F

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 467. I was asked one Juani (@witheredsummer), an Argentinian Voluntarist, on Twitter and then later via email, to review his draft article "Ideas Are Free: A Case Against Intellectual Property" (text below) (I note that perhaps ironically, this title is almost identical to one of my own previous publications/speeches, Ideas are Free: The Case Against Intellectual Property: or, How Libertarians Went Wrong). I told him it was too long for me to fisk, got Grok to analyze it (see below), and told him to read up on some of my work and review the analysis, so that we could have a more productive conversation about it, and which I could also at least record for my podcast. This is our discussion. In the end, he basically identifies many problems with and absurdities with IP law, which he's right about and which I've mentioned, and comes up with some proposals for IP reform that would reduce its harm—again, which he's right about and which I and others have also proposed, but al

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 466. https://youtu.be/JAwxQTrPDII Re .@NSKinsella has proposed a number of patent reforms if we decide as a society not to abolish the patent system. This is, in my view, a more plausible way forward (politically) instead of demanding the abolition of patents.https://t.co/q3a0U2HQJ6 In this annotated extract, I… https://t.co/Jm36N2kjxa pic.twitter.com/Fs1caiVven — Sanjeev Sabhlok (@sabhlok) June 4, 2025 Sabhlok's markup of my proposals: See How to Improve Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Law and “Reducing the Cost of IP Law,” Mises Daily (2010). See also Tabarrok’s Launching the Innovation Renaissance: Statism, not renaissance How to Improve Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Law by Stephan Kinsella on February 1, 2011 [From my Webnote series] This is included as ch. 41 of Stephan Kinsella, ed., The Anti-IP Reader: Free Market Critiques of Intellectual Property (Papinian Press, 2023). See also proposals for reform in “Reducing the Cost of IP Law”; also Do Bus

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 465. GROK SHOWNOTES: [0:00–9:16] In this engaging episode of the Kinsella on Liberty podcast, Stephan Kinsella and Sheldon Richman tackle the contentious issue of pharmaceutical price controls under Trump’s executive order, questioning their equivalence to traditional price controls that distort markets. Kinsella, drawing on his extensive critique of intellectual property (Patents and Pharmaceuticals, 2023; Patents, Pharma, Government: The Unholy Alliance, 2024), argues that patents create artificial monopolies, so price controls countering these are not standard interventions but responses to government-granted privileges. Richman highlights FDA-imposed costs, which patents partially offset, though Kinsella counters that these costs are overstated, citing lower drug prices abroad (Drug Reimportation, 2009). They endorse reimportation as a market-based solution, referencing Connor O’Keefe’s analysis (Mises: How Trump Can Lower Drug Prices Without Price Controls, 2025), bu

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 464. I appeared on the new show Tyrant's Den a few days ago. It was released today (May 2, 2025) along with the other initial episodes. Chat GPT shownotes: In this engaging episode of The Tyrants' Den, host and guest delve into a wide-ranging discussion with Stephan Kinsella, a leading libertarian legal theorist and retired patent attorney. The conversation begins [0:01–7:20] with Kinsella’s background in patent law, where he candidly reflects on his anti-IP stance even while working within the IP system. He outlines how his libertarian beliefs shaped his legal career, how he avoided ethically troubling work like aggressive patent litigation, and how he transitioned to full-time libertarian scholarship, including his influential work on intellectual property and legal theory. As the episode unfolds [7:20–59:45], Kinsella explores the philosophical foundations of law from Roman and common law to natural law, and discusses international law, war crimes, and higher-law princ

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 463. A followup discussion with André Simoni of Brazil about some questions he had about applying my/Rothbard’s title-transfer. See also KOL457 | Sheldon Richman & IP; Andre from Brazil re Contract Theory, Student Loan Interest Payments, Bankruptcy, Vagueness, Usury. Grok Shownotes: 0:00–29:42] In this episode of the Kinsella on Liberty podcast (KOL463), Stephan Kinsella engages in a follow-up discussion with André Simoni from Brazil, building on their prior conversation with Sheldon Richman (KOL457). The dialogue begins with André revisiting his concerns about usury, fractional-reserve banking, and the nature of loan contracts, proposing a libertarian limit on interest rates to prevent exploitative lending practices that could lead to effective enslavement. He argues that modern financial systems, including fractional-reserve banking and fiat currency, are interconnected mechanisms designed to promote unsustainable economic activity, drawing insights from Doug French’s

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 462. I previously appeared on Joshua Smith's Break the Cycle, in July 2021 (KOL349 | CouchStreams Ep 58 on Break the Cycle with Joshua Smith). I had forgotten but we also did a short "CouchStreams After Hours" segment for subscribers which was, and still is, behind a paywall. We discussed various things—my scooter ride with Antony Sammeroff in Austin and travels with Sammeroff the previous months (see KOL330 | Lift Talks #2 With Kinsella & Sammeroff and KOL329 | Lift Talks #1 With Kinsella & Sammeroff), skiing accidents while skiing with Sammeroff, my joining the Libertarian Party, the Mises Caucus, loser brigade libertarians and the Hoppe photo with Michael Malice's helicopter gift (see below), when I was offered a job at Cato, when I was Disinvited From Cato, and so on. I had forgotten about this but stumbled across the file on my computer looking for something else, so decided to upload and podcast it. It's been long enough. Youtube transcript and Grok shownotes below.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 461. This is my appearance on Adam Haman’s podcast and Youtube channel, Haman Nature (Haman Nature substack), episode HN 119, “Stephan Kinsella Expounds on Philosophy And The Life Well Lived” (recorded Feb. 6, 2025—just before the Tom Woods cruise). We discussed philosophy and rights; my legal and libertarian careers (see Adopting Liberty: The Stephan Kinsella Story), and so on. Shownotes, links, grok summary, and transcript below. https://youtu.be/Ekg5slP8xAg?si=6fNlmaeR6V7OMVEW Adam’s Shownotes Brilliant patent attorney, philosopher, legal theorist and libertarian anarchist Stephan Kinsella comes back on the show to take Adam to task for not defending atheism with enough vigor! 00:00 — Intro. Adam and Stephan reminisce about the Tom Woods Cruise! Also: proof that Stephan has a wife. 02:30 — Stephan's intellectual history about the "God issue". 11:30 — What is "sound epistemology" on this subject? What are good arguments for or against the existence of God? How shou

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 460. I mean the title says it all. I kept getting interrupted by calls and deliveries. Oh well, what you gonna do. https://youtu.be/rnDe920Ce40 Links/Resources China and IP "Theft" Lacalle on China and IP “Theft” All-In Podcast Concern over China and IP “Theft” More of the “China is Stealing Our IP” nonsense Tweet by Gordon Chang “To Steal a Book is an Elegant Offense”—Chinese saying Libertarian and IP Answer Man: Does China have “more fierce” competition because of weaker IP law? Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Intellectual Property, the section “IP can’t be socialistic, since the Soviet Union didn’t recognize IP law” other posts under the tag China-IP-theft or IP Imperialism IP vs. Plagiarism KOL207 | Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Are Not About Plagiarism, Theft, Fraud, or Contract “Types of Intellectual Property” The Mountain of IP Legislation General Case Against IP Kinsella, Legal Foundations of a Free So

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 459. In response to lots of froth on Twitter related to Jack Dorsey's call to "delete all IP law," which was echoed by Elon Musk (Musk and Dorsey: “delete all IP law”) I decided to attempt to host an impromptu Twitter Spaces about this. After overcoming some technical glitches, here is the result (and thanks to @Brunopbch, @NotGovernor (Patrick Smith), and @TrueAmPatriot86 for assists). I proposed to the space: "Fielding Questions About Abolishing Intellectual Property, about IP, and About Libertarian Property Rights", and that's basically what we ended up talking about. The Twitter spaces can be viewed here; I have clipped off the first 8 minutes or so of setup talk for this podcast episode. Grok summaries and shownotes and Youtube Transcript below. https://t.co/IHeVhPhlbs I'm going to do an impromptu Twitter space in an hour (2pm CST) to field any questions about the Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property, in view of recent Twitter debates inspired by @jack Do

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 458. The meat of this talk is only about 15 minutes, if you skip the first couple minutes of setup and the Q&A at the end. As mentioned in Speaking at APEE IP Panel in Guatemala, today (April 6, 2025) I spoke on a panel at the APEE 49th Meeting in Guatemala. The theme of this year's meeting was “The Economic History of State and Market Institutions,” April 6-8, 2025, Guatemala City, Guatemala (program). My panel was Panel 50. [1.E.06] “Intellectual Property: Old Problems and New Developments,” Monday, April 7, 2025, 3:50 pm-5:05 pm, Breakout06. Organizer: Monica Rio Nevado de Zelaya, Universidad Francisco Marroquín; Chair: Ramón Parellada, Universidad Francisco Marroquín. My full panel: Intellectual Property: A Randian Approach Warren Orbaugh, Universidad Francisco Marroquín Non-Traditional Trademarks Cristina Umaña, Universidad Francisco Marroquín Copyright versus Innovation in the Market for Recorded Music Julio Cole,Universidad Francisco Marroquín Patent and