Judge Rules Nobody Owns "Happy Birthday To You"

by Ted Johnson.       A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the lyrics to “Happy Birthday to You” are not protected by copyright, concluding that Warner/Chappell Music does not hold a valid claim to the song. It raises the prospect that royalties will no longer be collected from public performances of the song in movies, TV shows and other         ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Hunt Lions To Save Lions

Mike Masnick: GM Says That While You May Own Your Car, It Owns The Software In It, Thanks To Copyright Laws

You buy but you don't own it.  Last week, we noted that Senator Ron Wyden and Rep. Jared Polis had introduced an important bill to fix a part of the DMCA's broken anti-circumvention laws found in Section 1201 of the DMCA. For whatever reason, some people still have trouble understanding why the law is so broken. So here's a story that  ... MORE

Why Government Doesn't Like Individual Property Rights

by Laura Lundquist.   Government serves agencies, not people. More than two dozen Republican legislators are cosponsoring a bill intended to strengthen private property rights by prohibiting state agencies from taking any action that might affect a person’s enjoyment of their property. But several agencies and attorneys say that could have negative  ... MORE

VIDEO: Licensing and Cronyism

John Stossel - Owning Ideas

Thinking about copyrights.   For most of history, people suffered in miserable poverty. Then, in a few hundred years, some new ideas made life hugely better for billions of us — things like running water, the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, the Internet. We want people to keep coming up with new and better ideas. But there's a problem:   ... MORE

VIDEO: More Guns, Less Murders

The USA has, by far, the highest per capita gun ownership in the world.

VIDEO: 2014 - A Year Of Rescuing Liberty

VIDEO: John Stossel: Property And Prosperity

VIDEO: John Stossel: Why Are Indians Poor?

Property Rights and Property Taxes: To Possess Not Own

by Nick Giambruno. Do you really own something that you are forced to perpetually make payments on and which can be seized from you if you don’t pay? I would say that you don’t. You would possess such an item, but you wouldn’t own it—an important distinction.  A ridiculous perversion of the concept of ownership and property rights has   ... MORE

VIDEO: Stealing From The Poor To Give To The Rich

VIDEO: What Surfing Can Teach You About Ownership