Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
We conduct an experiment to compare how people respond to the appropriation of rivalrous versus nonrivalrous goods. Analysis of chat transcripts indicates that people use language associated with ‘stealing’ exclusively for rivalrous goods. Moreover, taking rivalrous goods precipitates negative emotional shifts in conversations, while appropriating nonrivalrous goods does not. Even though their work is copied extensively, creators of nonrivalrous goods do not seek intellectual property protection when attribution is assured. These findings help explain why digital piracy in the internet age provokes moral judgments distinct from those involving physical theft. They suggest that our moral evaluations originate more from the rivalrousness of the good than from the act of taking itself and therefore challenge the applicability of intellectual property law frameworks formulated before the advent of widespread digital sharing.

Buchanan, Joy and Wilson, Bart J, You Wouldn’t Steal a Car: Moral Intuition for Intellectual Property (November 16, 2025).