The main problem with IP laws (and I exclude trademarks here because they have different properties) is that they discourage the use of content and ideas that h

The main problem with IP laws (and I exclude trademarks here because they have different properties) is that they discourage the use of content and ideas that have been created or invented. This is an unintended side effect of current system - the original aim was to reward and increase supply, rather than decrease demand. So the Swedish Pirate Party are asking the wrong questions. They should be asking how can we continue to support innovators and inventors, even if they don't have the means to be producers, while not decreasing demand. A good solution is to provide an alternative to the monopoly model with something more like a tax. A business can elect to pay a certain fixed percentage of their profits before IP costs, IP revenue, and tax to a pool of money which is distributed to creators / inventers. In exchange the business is exempt from IP laws (excl trademarks) as long as it only trades with individual consumers and similarly exempt businesses. Each participating business is legally required to declare what content / inventions they used to create their product / services, and the participating businesses that supplied them, or face penalties; copies of content or inventions made by anyone must be labelled with the reporting code. The pool of funds is distributed based on a formula taking into account the direct (used by business making profit) and indirect (i.e. used to create something in the supply chain of participating businesses) use of content / ideas that contributed to the profits. Under this system, participating businesses would want to read and apply as many relevant patent documents as possible, and use as much outside content as possible, since they don't pay any more, meaning that there is much more reuse of ideas, but the creators of that content would still be rewarded.