[quote]Should we, following your logic, conclude that the “price drops to zero” for gold coins just because the quantity of atoms in the universe is practically infinite?[/quote]

No, because there’s a crucial difference between gold coins and digital goods: While the quantity of atoms in the universe may be practically infinite. The availability is not.

It is the quantity and the availability in combination that determine wether a good is scarce (and thus valuable).

When you create a digital good, the value is not in the good, that’s a commodity by nature, it’s in the time you put in.

The thing about time is that once spent you can’t recoup it, so if you want to get paid for your time you had better convince someone or somegroup to do so before you spent it. That’s what things like kickstart are for.

As to your ‘argument’ in http://jneilschulman.rationalreview.com/2011/03/the-libertarian-case-for-ip/ the point you make is properly about trademark/identity not copyright.
That’s a completely different area of law altogether.

(and your argument is a great example of why lumping copyright/patents/trademark altogether under the heading IP is a real good way to muddy the waters)

The copying of a digital good does not have the quality issues the copying of a natural good has. Consequently the copying of a digital good (properly attributed) spreads your trademark, not dilutes it.

This increasing it’s value, not diminishes it, the person doing it has not taken something away from you, on the contrary he just helped to increase the value of your brand for free.

If you have a TV series, one episode on the internet isn’t a big deal. When the entire series is on Netflix, it provides more value. You pay for that access.

A gold coin can not be digitized and copied. It has a certain value based on what others are willing to give for it. It’s somewhat dubious to try to mix apples and oranges just because both are fruit.

Sorry you had to try corner a non-existent market. Once something becomes 1s and 0s it becomes an infinite supply and therefore the price drops to zero. Kinda hard to claim ownership over something that is infinite and nigh-zero cost to produce, even if it took your ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ to make the original copy. In fact I would be proud people Torrented my work as then I would know people would be reading it and therefore reaching an audience. I’m not a harcor libertarian scholar, but this isn’t really that hard of a concept to grasp. You can still make money in today’s internet-world but its a fundamentally different ballgame then your “write a manuscript and sell it for $15 bucks a pop” era of the 20th century.

Welcome to the Digital Age.