The the US government was overthrown, what happens to all patents, copyrights, etc?

[Kokolums]

Just a bizarre "thought while taking a shower" thread. I don't have an agenda here. I'm just curious. I don't know the answer.

Let's suppose someone overthrows the US government. Do all the patents and copyrights get dissolved? Does that mean all of works by Britney Spears and JK Rowling, the McDonalds and Nike logos, and World of Warcraft all enter the public domain?

[nextormento]

I imagine they get transferred to the victorious party able to establish rule of law over the place.
Rowling is from the UK, though.

[Felnoire]

As most patents and copyrights tend to be recognized internationally (with exceptions.. looking at you China), there would be little change in the protection afforded to those who patented or copyrighted their IP.

[Deleted]

Just a bizarre "thought while taking a shower" thread. I don't have an agenda here.

The junta, warlord etc will form a new government, it will be the inheritor to the old goverment. So the new gorverment will use the old copyright law untill they change it.

[chazus]

Well, okay. I'll bite.

Let's say someone "overthrows the government". What do you mean by that? "The Government" isn't like... a person. Or a building. Or even a small group of people. You don't "Overthrow the government". It's hundreds of thousands of people with thousands of departments.

If you're saying "We took over the whitehouse" or ... what? I don't know. The statement is a fallacy from the start. But I imagine you're talking about just removing things like president/congress... If that's the case, nothing happens. The patent department would remain as it is and nothing would change.

If you somehow had a magic wand that simply dissolved all government agencies and departments... Then yes, they would become invalid, legally speaking. But that won't/can't happen. The US government is far too complex to simply remove/take down. You can change authority, and leadership, sure. But the whole thing? No.

[Lumineus]

Ignoring for a moment how difficult it is to get over the ridiculousness of this notion, I imagine that many if not most intellectual property holders of note would have long since fled the country and taken their means of content creation with them. So realistically, nothing changes for the rest of the world. Whatever springs up in place of the former US is unlikely to consistently recognize international copyright claims, and will likely be similar to dealing with China in that regard.

[chazus]

That's a fairly silly statement. In the imaginary event of some greater power attacking the nation, as soon as the ability of said government to defend itself and/or it's people disappears, the entire thing collapses. They wouldn't have to go from city to city closing down each and every government office or something.

Thats sort of why I was saying the statement was a bit of a wonky question from the start. What does 'overthrow the government' imply? You can't really 'remove the president' or 'remove congress' without some kind of backlash. It's a magic wand rhetoric. Even if you replaced the president cleanly, and nobody did anything about it, the rest of government would continue to function as normal.

If you're saying 'overthrow the government' as in carpet bombing the entire east coast, and destroying/killing the majority of the government with it, then yes, there you go.... But... By that point, we have bigger things to worry about than patents. You're talking WW3 stuff, and people will be lucky to have a device to use to infringe copyright on at all.