big pharma companies patent
> ingredients used in traditional medicine in Africa, which amounts to
> neo-colonial exploitation by the means of law. Or record labels using
> it to steal music from musicians
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bihari_brothers).
>
> So the proper question to ask is whether intellectual property rights
> create more good than bad for society.
An excellent question, but doesn't follow naturally from your examples. Theft is not, in and of itself, an argument against property; it could just as easily compel more rigorous enforcement of property rights in favor of the rightful owners.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."