[pp.int.general] purpose of manifesto

[Richard M Stallman]

    > property. We really need to replace it with a more suitable meme, 
    > something catchier - perhaps even with the same abbreviation.

    How about "public domain law"? (PDL) Like all law, it has some (minor!) 
    exceptions, e.g. for authors rights.

The worst problem with the term "intellectual property" is that it
lumps together more than a dozen laws which overall have essentially
nothing in common.  Using a different term to lump together these laws
would not correct that problem.

These laws are so different that generalizing about them is misguided.
A general term for all these laws tends to be harmful, since it tends
to encourage generalization about them, and isn't useful in clear
thinking.

So here's my solution.  When speaking of copyright law, I call it
"copyright law".  When speaking of patent law, I call it "patent law".
When speaking of trademark law, I call it "trademark law".  And I
never try to generalize about any two of them.

These terms are accepted and understood, so they don't sound strange
or unusualo to anyone in the know.