Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey Call For Abolition Of All Intellectual Property Laws, Arguing There Are 'Much Greater Models To Pay Creators'

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. TSLA, and Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter (currently X) as well as Square, now called Block Inc. XYZ, have ignited a debate over intellectual property rights. The tech magnates have suggested a complete eradication of IP laws, a move that has stirred controversy in the tech industry.

What Happened: Dorsey initiated the discussion with a post on X stating, “delete all IP law.” Musk, who now owns X (formerly Twitter), promptly agreed with Dorsey’s sentiment. The discussion comes amid ongoing lawsuits faced by AI companies, including OpenAI, co-founded by Musk, over alleged copyright violations.

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The debate has drawn a mixed bag of reactions. Tech evangelist Chris Messina supported Dorsey’s stance. He wrote on BlueSky social, “Jack has a point" as "Automated IP fines/3-strike rules for AI infringement may become the substitute for putting poor people in jail for cannabis possession."

Meanwhile, others, like Ed Newton-Rex of Fairly Trained, on BlueSky, criticized the interaction between the tech executives. “Tech execs declaring all-out war on creators who don't want their life's work pillaged for profit,” posted Newton-Rex.

Why It Matters: The exchange of views between the tech innovators comes at a time when Meta Platforms‘ META Llama AI models have been caught in a copyright lawsuit over the use of pirated e-books for training.

Dorsey’s and Musk’s recent comments are in line with their long-held views on intellectual property rights. Dorsey has been a vocal critic of IP laws, viewing them as barriers to innovation. In his subsequent posts under the current one, he argued that the current IP system restricts creativity and unfairly benefits gatekeepers at the expense of creators. 

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There are "much greater models to pay creators" while claiming "the current ones take way too much from them and only rent-seek,” posted Dorsey.

Similarly, Musk’s endorsement of Dorsey’s post is consistent with his 2014 Tesla patent pledge not to enforce patents against “good faith” users. However, in a twist of events, Tesla sued Australian company, Cap-XX in 2023, suspecting the supercapacitors used for energy storage in EV batteries likely infringed on two U.S. patents held by a Tesla subsidiary.

Their recent comments have reignited the conversation around intellectual property rights in the tech industry, a topic that will undoubtedly continue to be a point of contention.

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