Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk Call for Abolition of “All IP Law”
Patent – Patently-O 2025-04-14
Summary:
In a characteristically terse post on X, twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey declared “delete all IP law.” Elon Musk quickly agreed with Dorsey’s statement. It is unclear to me which of these sub-declarations are included within the “all IP law.”
- Delete all Patent Law?
- Delete all Copyright Law?
- Delete all Trade Secrecy Law?
- Delete all Trademark Law?
- Delete all rights of publicity protecting individuals’ name-image-and-likeness?
Musk has previously remarked that “patents are for the weak.” In a sense, he’s right—but perhaps not in the way he might intend. That “for the weak” statement can be made of all property rights and the rule of law more generally. The “strong”—those with immense capital, entrenched market positions, and even private security forces—can often get by without formal legal protections. Might makes right. But the rule of law exists precisely to protect those without such power. Intellectual property rights, like patents and copyrights, offer individuals and small enterprises a measure of leverage—a tool to bargain with or push back against more powerful entities. That is a feature of the system, not a bug.
USPTO Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart offered her rebuttal — defending IP with examples from the President and Vice President, J.D.