own the stars

this here is a reductio ad absurdum of the very idea of intellectual property. not only did ford claim to own 'the blue oval,' but it put this abstract geometrical/chromatic concept up as collateral on a loan. maybe i'll try this with 'anarchism' or 'knowledge is just true belief.' or maybe i can identify some investment-grade polyhedrons or topological forms. if someone tries to sell you the brooklyn bridge, it's a con. but at least it's plausibly something that could be owned, like a particular physical object. but people actually do purport to buy, sell, and collateralize things like 'the blue oval.' it would be much more plausible to claim ownership of a particular cumulus cloud or the planet neptune.