KOL497 | Debate: “Should Free Cities Protect Intellectual Property?” Free Cities Foundation Annual Conference — Próspera, Honduras 2026

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 497.

Yesterday (Sep. 5, 2026) I participated in the debate: “Should Free Cities Protect Intellectual Property?” with IP attorney Brian O’Beirne, moderated by Tipolis CFO Alex Voss, at the Free Cities Foundation annual Conference, Próspera, Honduras, Sept. 4–7 (Sat. Sept. 5, 2026) (SK profile; O'Beirne profile) (see Free Cities Foundation Annual Conference — Próspera 2026). Topic was billed as: "Is the concept of intellectual property ethically defensible? And: do Free Cities have more to gain or lose by upholding internationally recognised intellectual property standards?"

https://youtu.be/4GWPdxnpCOI

I spoke for 4 minutes, then Brian, and then we had an exchange and audience questions for the remaining time. It was very civil unlike some other debates I've participated in. (( KOL038 | Debate with Robert Wenzel on Intellectual Property; KOL123 | Debate with Jan Helfeld on Anarchy vs. Limited Government. )) One thing I liked is that Brian started off admitting, first, that he has some sympathy for my anti-IP position, and, second, that he acknowledged that opposition to IP is the libertarian position--unlike other libertarian IP proponents who claim that IP rights are compatible with libertarianism, if not the "heart and core" (Ayn Rand) of property rights (( See Objectivists: “All Property is Intellectual Property”; A Recurring Fallacy: “IP is a Purer Form of Property than Material Resources”; The “Ontology” Mistake of Libertarian Creationists. )) or, perhaps even worse, or maybe just stupider sounding, "primary property" (Galambos). (( Galambos and Other Nuts; Rothbard and Galambosians; The Galambosians strike back; “Around this time I met the Galambosian.”; Libertarian Sci-Fi Authors and Copyright versus Libertarian IP Abolitionists; Was Galambos an IP Thief?; Galambos the Crank; Shades of Galambos: Man tries to copyright his name. ))

Transcript and shownotes below.

This was also so purely a perfect 4 minutes I couldn’t believe it

— Alex (@AlexDVoss) September 16, 2026

Note: I misspoke a couple times in my 4-minute hurried initial presentation: I said "court" a few times when I meant the crown (king; government; state), granting patents in favor of "court" cronies; and the crown and/or church (Attila and the Witchdoctor) (( See Ayn Rand, “For the New Intellectual,” in For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (New York: Signet/New American Library, reprint of Random House, 1961; first Sig