[pvn]

[ QUOTE ]
Whether such an apparatus could exist outside government is just a snoozer of an argument that has been rehashed on these boards a million times and is not really relevant. The point is that in the world today, when governments don't protect IP in this way, there is no other apparatus. That's just the empirical fact about countries like Russia. Therefore, firms don't invest. Ergo, getting rid of these protections is probably a bad idea for most countries.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this. Regions in the world today, right now, where governments do not protect IP generally are areas where governmnets do not protect *property* at all, and where there is no widespread respect for property in the first place. These are generally bad areas not only for economic investment, but just about any other civilized activity.