Authors Must Protect Intellectual Property

Recently, politicians have attacked our freedoms and rights in the name of public health. The most recent was the removal of the intellectual property on the vaccines against the coronavirus disease. The idea is that it is available to all, but already, the vaccine is given freely to Americans, but pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to protect their formula so they could license it to other countries or companies. It was removed to protect health, but it sets a dangerous precedent and authors should be outraged. If pharmaceutical companies could lose their intellectual property, authors could too, namely their copyrights on books or cookbooks.

The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to pursue property. Intellectual property is still property. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, software coding, music, art, formulas and much more are protected and should be allowed to be retained. In Sept. 11, 2001, we started losing rights in the name of security. Now, we are losing more rights because of public health. Once we lose our rights, we do not get them back. We must protest these rulings. We have the power because the "Pen is mightier than the sword." We have the protection of free speech. We are allowed to protest these rights violation in print and on the Internet. We can fight public figures because of Sullivan vs New York Times, which said that public figures must prove actual malice by journalists and authors. There also was a case where the Supreme Court ruled the Internet is more like print than broadcast and is protected. We could lose our right to market our companies or nonprofits.

As authors and journalists we should support pharmaceutical companies that want to protect their vaccines and right to make money on their property. Publishers might soon be denied the ability to sell their rights to musicians, film studios or foreign companies. In fact, already libraries and schools have removed Dr. Seuss books from their shelves to avoid offense. What about the offense that it harms authors? We already have to fight the competition of sites, such as fivvr.com that downplays the value of our skills. Should we have to fight our government too?

We must fight these attacks on our freedoms and rights. It is wrong and could lead to a dictatorship, censorship of our voice, and a bleak world for Americans.

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