by Tibor Machan (Chapman University)
Over the years there has been a debate among supporters of the free market concerning whether so called intellectual property is something to which one may have a private property right. One central element of the case, as advanced by some, is that because intellectual property is intangible, and tangibility makes what is owned rather easy to identify, intellectual "stuff," such as a novel, poem, musical composition, or screenplay cannot be owned. This is not just some abstract exercise without concrete implications and applications.