ABSTRACT
In this chapter, students consider ethical arguments and justifications invoked to describe the institution of property ownership and then consider whether such arguments which describe the acquisition of tangible assets like land can be invoked to describe the ownership of nontangible assets. Here, we define critical terms in the discussion of IP issues – including fair use, economic right, moral right, piracy, and intellectual property. This chapter also describes new technologies used to secure one’s claim to intellectual property ownership – including digital watermarking and the creation of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Finally, students learn to apply virtue ethics, utilitarian, and deontological lenses in thinking through the ethical issues of intellectual property.
