ABSTRACT
Personal property ownership is in a precarious state, facing structural, economic, and legal attacks. The individual autonomy, security, and privacy traditionally protected through ownership have been displaced by reliance on corporate goodwill and opaque contractual arrangements. This is largely due to the fact owners no longer have the unfettered right to access, use, and control their personal property. Instead, through several seemingly idiosyncratic business methods, companies have harnessed their newfound ability to rip apart the property bundle into sub-compartmentalized rights and privileges, which can then be individually licensed, leased, limited, or even destroyed. This has meant that purchases no longer mark the end of buyer-seller relationships; instead, sales signal the beginning of manufacturers’ ability to hold purchased goods hostage in exchange for further revenue, data collection, and remote control. This Article provides a taxonomy of structural attacks on personal property ownership by dissecting how markets and corporate behaviors continue to undermine consumers. By highlighting these behaviors, the Article emphasizes the need to address both the structural and legal forces undermining property ownership. It reaffirms that property law’s pre-built bundles of rights remain vital for private ordering, standardizing expectations and fostering trust in transactions.
Marinotti, João, Defragging Ownership: Corporate Control and the Decline of Personal Property (December 15, 2024), Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No 538; 100 Indiana Law Journal (Forthcoming 2025).
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