Must-Read: : Look what they’ve done to my song, Ma: "My discussion of intellectual property inevitably raised questions about my argument that property rights are not natural rights...
...The ‘moral rights’ of artists over their creative works has been raised as a suggested counterexample. In fact, this example reinforces my original argument.... In France and other European countries, artists have inalienable moral rights over their work... not a property right, but a constraint on property rights.... [If] recognised after the fact, they constitute a taking from the purchaser.... [If] recognised when artists sell rights... they (like any restriction on alienation of property) represent a constraint on the property rights of the artist.... Property rights and (perceived/socially accepted) natural rights... coincide in some ways and conflict in others... both [are] associated with the general feeling of rightful possession, so that a system of property rights is more stable when it coincides with natural rights. On the other hand, natural rights are mostly perceived as inalienable and indivisible...
http://crookedtimber.org/2016/05/31/look-what-theyve-done-to-my-song-ma/
