這本書主要的哲學分析是基於這樣一個事實，即知識財産法的目的是在我所稱的“抽象物”上創設權利。這些抽象物是具有諸如科學知識、文字信息或技術等一般社會定義形式的無形物。

關於以諸如知識形式存在的抽象物的一個重要事實是，它們是不能由於使用而被耗盡的。事實上，情況恰恰相反，知識通過使用而獲得增長。例如，對一個證明予以驗證的數學傢越多，越有可能找到其他更精妙的證明。閱讀和解釋一部作品的人越多，有關該作品的知識就越多。

知識遵循的是所謂的不斷豐富的規律，而不是逐漸耗盡的規律。知識財産是一個潛在的危險的規範形式，因為它人為地製造知識稀缺現象，從而削弱知識不斷豐富這一規律。

Dr. Peter Drahos is Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Dr. Peter Drahos is the Herchel Smith Senior Research Fellow in Intellectual Property in the Intellectual Property Unit in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London. He holds degrees in law, politics, and philosophy. He has taught in the Department of Politics at the University of Adelaide and in the Law Faculty at the Australian National University. He has been a Research Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He was an officer of the Australian Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. He has been a consultant to numerous government departments. He has published in law and social science journals on a variety of topics including contract, legal theory, telecommunications, and intellectual property. He is the author of A Philosophy of Intellectual Property (1996) and, with John Braithwaite Global Business Regulation (1996). He has held research grants from the US National Science Foundation, the American Bar Foundation and the Australian Research Council.