Political Freedom and Intellectual Property Rights: Conflict of values

The paper critically observes the current legal and political happenings around the international multilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), including criticism for its rejection by the European Parliament in the year of 2012. This example is treated in the sense of the collision of values in today’s information society, e.g. political freedom on the one hand, and intellectual property rights on the other. The collision of values is balanced fairly by the laws, for example by the statutory licenses and compulsory licenses, too. This text also critically considers some aspects of the contemporary political ideology of information. The author considers the majority of the European public reaction to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement as fearful, irrational and populist by politicians. “Electronic Violence” remains violence like any other and everyone must have the courage to face it. The information society itself is based on the same values as any other human society. Likewise, the information society is prone to various vices, such as greed for foreign assets without any compensation. This greed is only masked by political rhetoric about freedom and human rights. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between legal ideology of information from legally regulated economic shifts.