- Elon Musk, along with Jack Dorsey, has called for scrapping IP laws that, in his opinion, block innovation.
- Chris Pavlovski and Carol Roth were tech leaders who argued for IP protection for creators and innovation.
- The debate exposed IP systems as flawed, and there was a call for reform rather than a complete elimination.
In a statement, the co-founder of Block and Twitter (now called X) Dorsey said IP law, including copyright and patents, should be outright abolished. The bold declaration went viral on X, where users quickly debated how it could impact creativity, innovation, and digital rights in modern times.
Musk and Keiser Back Dorsey’s IP Stance
Dorsey’s supporters, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Bitcoin maximalist Max Keiser, claim these IP laws actually inhibit innovation. They argue that outmoded IP regimes have created unnecessary scarcity and benefited monopolistic control, making them badly mismatched to today’s swiftly changing digital environment.
But a call to abolish IP protection also drew scorn from many tech leaders and creators. Chris Pavlovski, CEO of Rumble, an online video platform that has just started using Bitcoin as corporate reserves, was highly critical of Dorsey’s viewpoint.
Without IP laws, Pavlovski said, major tech companies will be able to use copyrighted materials to train AI models without obtaining permission or paying the original creator.
Carol Roth Defends Importance of IP Protections
Jason Zhao, co-founder of Story Protocol, who also adds to the criticism, then shared a screenshot alleging patents belonging to Block itself, which seems to challenge Dorsey’s stance.
New York Times best-selling author Carol Roth highlighted how important IP laws are in protecting the rights of creators. She claimed that taking away such protections would cripple creative industries and flatten the field for innovation innovations.
Manna Bitcoin Wallet founder Adam Simecka, however, recognized the flaws of the existing system but not necessarily its abolition. Corporations, however, Simecka said, sometimes abuse IP frameworks, and a total IP law elimination may not be the best cure.
Elon Musk has stuck with a stance on patents he took earlier, if little has changed. In poking fun at his description of patents as being ‘for the weak,’ Musk has used them selectively to protect some but not all of his innovations. In 2014, Tesla signaled its innovation stance by releasing patents to the public and vowing that the company would not file lawsuits against people using Tesla’s technology in good faith.
