ABSTRACT
Although the money and land monopolies were clearly the two most important of the "four monopolies", Tucker, if not all the writers in Liberty, insisted on attacking the last two monopolies: tariffs, and patents and copyrights. Unlike money and land, tariffs, patents, and copyrights were not traditional targets of labor reformers. Erecting tariffs and issuing patents and copyrights, however, were clearly examples of positive state action, and not so obviously infrastructural. Consequently, even though there was no pressing demand among anarchists or workers for the abolition of tariffs, patents, and copyrights, this was seen, by Tucker at least, as essential in clearing the way for free competition. Patents and copyrights, especially the latter, were much more controversial among the individualist anarchists. The anti-copyright position, headed by Tucker, argued that the right to deny copying of an author's work was simply a monopoly and could not be justified on theoretical or practical grounds.
