Billionaires Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk Call To Eliminate Intellectual Property Rights for Creators

[LudwigPastorius]

As artists fight to protect their works from being used to train AI models, Jack Dorsey wants to eliminate intellectual property (IP) laws altogether. Elon Musk agrees.

On Friday, the cofounder of X (then Twitter) and Block (then Square) posted on X, "delete all IP law." Elon Musk, the current leader of X, chimed in to comment, "I agree."

-snip-

Dorsey, Musk, and Altman's words underscore a common belief amongst tech entrepreneurs that copyright laws need to evolve to account for the potential of generative AI. Already, both OpenAI and Google have openly lobbied the U.S. government to allow AI models to train on protected works such as movies, articles, and music. They want such use to fall under the fair use legal doctrine, with OpenAI calling it a matter of "national security."

-snip-

"Intellectual property law is rooted in the U.S. Constitution as a tool to promote creativity, not suppress it. It ensures that those who contribute to cultural and scientific progress are recognized, protected, and compensated," said Atreya Mathur, director of Legal Research at the Center for Art Law, in an email to Mashable. "Elimination of such laws would ignore that very purpose and devalue the labor and rights of creators, including those whose work powers these technologies."

More here: https://mashable.com/article/jack-dorsey-elon-musk-ip-laws-artists-react

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Billionaires are parasites, feeding off of the work of others and undermining our Democracy with their obscene wealth.

Tax them out of existence!

[John1956PA]

1. Their goal is to make it easier for them to steal the creative innovations of others.

[AllaN01Bear]

36. i was just thinking thatt . take stuff that dont belong to u.

[Trueblue Texan]

51. Definitely an excellent plan to destroy any incentive for creativity and innnovation.

I thought that was what capitalism was about. These guys aren’t capitalist? WTF?

[LisaM]

58. They are Libertarians.

And they follow an Ayn Randian doctrine. I don't think enough people understand what a harmful belief system that is.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Billionaire sociopaths believe everything in the world belongs to them.

They own it all.

[Marthe48]

3. says failures not capable of an original thought

money is not everything.

[progressoid]

4. Musk funded OPEN AI

And now has xAI.

[Solly Mack]

5. It's a matter of national security to steal the labor/creation of another?

Fuck the pus pockets.

[Shipwack]

6. Does this mean that Mickey Mouse...

...goes into the public domain?

Or does this only apply to "creators", not "publishers"?

🤔

[Dave Bowman]

39. Mickey Mouse is in the public domain since January of last year after being copyrighted for 95 years.

https://time.com/6551496/mickey-mouse-public-domain-steamboat-willie/

[generalbetrayus]

45. Only the early, Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse is in the public domain.

From the linked article:

But in January 2024, the copyright on Steamboat Willie officially expired, and Mickey Mouse is now officially in the public domain. This means that now anyone in the U.S. can use the Steamboat Willie version of the Mickey Mouse character without fear of copyright infringement. Copyright laws vary by country, so in some places Mickey remains protected.

Since the start of the year, a trailer for a Mickey Mouse horror film has been released while other digital creators have edited the footage from Steamboat Willie to make it sound as if Mickey is using profanity.

Nevertheless, Disney still retains some protections of the Mickey Mouse character. Versions of Mickey Mouse that were released after Steamboat Willie that feature his quintessential red shorts and big eyes remain protected.

[BootinUp]

7. A new comedy team. Nt

[Dave Bowman]

40. A lame version of Laurel and Hardy.

[hay rick]

8. Intellectual, but not contractual or physical property rights. Hmm.

Sounds like a slippery slope to me.

[FirstLight]

9. ...as a writer.... FUCK ELON

what sucks is there NO guardrails to prevent this from happening... Not with our democracy in the shitter...

[angrychair]

10. This is completely insane

The idea that billionaires want legitimize the stealing of the hard work of other people is totally a billionaire thing to do.

[PortTack]

27. Yup...muskrat has done it all his life. Buy something, claim he designed it and when it comes time for fresh

Ideas to bring buyers back, they have none. They certainly wouldn’t ever consider hiring creative ppl to design something new and innovative….so just take someone else’s work.

[ultralite001]

11. These billionaires...

have no ideas of their own...

W/ dissolution of IP law, it's much less expensive for them to steal w/ impunity...

[bronxiteforever]

12. Greedy, selfish dirtbags.

[JCMach1]

13. The right to steal

[Martin68]

14. Along with their many other character flaws, these people are common thieves.

[Be Leave On]

15. machina economicus

Cory Doctorow had a good comment on "Machina Economicus" yesterday that relates well to this OP.

https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/14/timmy-share/#a-superior-moral-justification-for-selfishness

[LudwigPastorius]

31. Great blog post

Thanks!

[Joinfortmill]

16. That's 'cause these guys can't write anything but code.

[Klarkashton]

17. In that case make all their secret source code

For all that shit open source. Including all the documentation.

Fuck those bastards.

[niyad]

18. jack dorsey? the founder of bluesky social media? THAT jack dorsey?

[Dave Bowman]

42. The one and only.

[electric_blue68]

56. Wow, I guess I Won't Be joining bluesky, then. Fuck him and Eloon.

[slightlv]

62. When my friend joined bluesky,

I told her not to get too attached. It was corporate owned and that it would show its true face eventually. I didn't think it would be so fast, but they evidently felt they got to a comfort zone of people and decided to push the limits. It never fails. They are incapable of acting in a society's best interests... only in the gimme gimme phase of childish inability of delayed gratification, among other defects.

I hadn't joined yet... this assures me I really don't need it.

[Johonny]

19. Or billionaires could pay writers what they owe them

Jesus Christ the sense of entitlement of these people.

I have an idea, let's steal all their money and make them poor. See if it works for them as they think it works for other people. Ass holes.

[Dave Bowman]

43. They wouldn't last a week on the street.

[patphil]

20. I guess it'd be OK until someone stole a valuable piece of intellectual property from them.

Then it'd be a terrible violation of their creative endeavors.
Seriously, why would someone put years of hard work into a project, only to have it rendered valueless by people who found it easier to steal than to do the work themselves?

Just one more reminder of how little the super rich care about the rest of us.
These guys are the true parasites. All they want to do is take, take, take. They rarely give anything back. And even then it's just a ruse for them to set the stage for another round of taking.

[Mr. Evil]

21. Why don't we save a step.

Let's just eliminate the parasitic billionaires. I mean, there's a nice place in El Salvador we can send them to. Warm climate, diet and weight conscious meals, breezy ocean air. I'm sure they'd learn to appreciate it. I know we certainly would.

[Kid Berwyn]

22. "Don't make me pay for what I will monetize for me."

That would take all the profit out of thievery.



Citizen, don’t you see the logic of welfare for the wealthy?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Mucus et al make intellectual property but theirs is protected as trade secrets. They don't have to publish it.

Artists and musicians are forced to publish by the nature of their works. Their work has no value unless published.

Mucus trade secrets are protected for example as computer code in cars. It is not published and they have protection against reverse engineering. Again they go with "rights for me and none for you. Haha!".

Mucus is so greedy.

[Karasu]

24. FUCK that. Instead, regulate the fuck out of AI. The continued lack of federal legislation is fucking absurd.

[Meowmee]

28. Imo now ai should be banished completely

[Karasu]

55. I wish. But there's no putting the genie back in the bottle now thanks to all these billionaire fucks forcing it on us

without our consent. Americans don't even have the ability to submit "opt-out of AI services" forms on fucking Facebook like the EU did, because they actually have their own specific, unifying AI Act, which has been pissing the techbros off. For me, it's a very strong reason to leave the country, and with each day there are less to stay.

[Iamscrewed]

25. Pitch forks

France 1789.

[Meowmee]

26. Of course elunatic who never did or invented anything himself

Would want that 😣

[bucolic_frolic]

29. That's communism for intellectual property. Software is intellectual property.

Coding would be publicly owned when created. So would books and music. No one would be paid for producing it. They could stay home and play videogames.

[David__77]

30. How about we do that for Tesla as well?

[dchill]

32. How do YOU spell robber baron?

[moonshinegnomie]

33. so when will they be releasing teh source code to their sites?

after all its just IP...

[Renew Deal]

34. They should lead by example and give up rights for x.xom, twitter, and bluesky

[TomWilm]

35. Then the AI companies could be ripped as well ...

... and anybody could freely pirate Twitter, make a better interface and attract customers for the copy product.

[aggiesal]

37. We want to use your intelectual property for our profit. See, that's how it's supposed to work. Get with the program ...

Do I need to add the sarcasm thingee?

[Maru Kitteh]

38. Eat the fucking rich, right fucking NOW.

now.

[Passages]

41. There is no such thing as a good billionaire.

[PortTack]

44. Actually..yes there is! Governor JB Pritzker

[Passages]

47. Gov. Pritzker vetoes bill that would have required llinois warehouse workers to know their quotas

The bill passed the General Assembly with support from several Illinois labor unions

By Ben Szalinski
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
https://abc7chicago.com/post/governor-jb-pritzker-vetoes-bill-would-have-required-illinois-warehouse-workers-know-quotas/16084637/

[yowzayowzayowza]

46. Guess that would mean owners could finally hack their Teslas. n/t

[markodochartaigh]

48. As someone whose family has been involved in copyright law for 1,500 years

(as at least 10% of those with ancestors from Donegal can claim), I realize that it can be a bloody business. I hope that we can stop this thin end of the wedge from giving AI human rights like corporations have been.

[RainCaster]

49. Musk is giving up all of Tesla & SpaceX's patents?

And Bezos is doing that for all the patents that AWS has?

[Trueblue Texan]

50. Then it would follow that trademarks can no longer be violated, right?

Copyright and trademark are the same thing in different areas of creative products.

[ReRe]

52. Thieves rights, I tells ya! Thieves rights! n/t

[SheltieLover]

53. No!!!!

[misanthrope]

54. Musk really has captured the spirit of Edison

I guess he'll be electrocuting an elephant next.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

57. Ketamine is a hell of a drug

[iluvtennis]

59. If they want the knowledge of the experts to be reflected in their "AI" algorithms, then pay the creators for

the right to use their intellectual property.

Fk these fascists.

[eppur_se_muova]

60. Include ALL software, and that's fine. nt

since it's probably needed

[OMGWTF]

61. Billionaires have no right to exist. No one needs that much money.

Anything over $999,999,999.99 should be taxed at 100%.