[pp.int.general] Global Dictatorship: Intellectual Property Denaturation or Why a Pirate Party in the Third World?

[Richard Stallman]

    > I agree with the substantial point but I urge people not to use the
    > term "intellectual property".  It is enemy propaganda, and it spreads
    > confusion every time.

    Yes, the phrase Rick coined "intellectual protectionism" is an 
    improvement.
    In the Netherlands I have used "intellectual monopolisms" in articles
    I wrote.

These terms fix one of the two problems in the term "intellectual property",
the bias.  But they do not fix the confusion.

The confusion comes from talking about 10 or so unrelated laws as if
they were one single issue.  Even treating copyright law and patent
law as a single issue is grave confusion.  They work differently and
have different effects.

Many Pirate parties' platforms (perhaps all) treat copyright and
patent as separate issues.  That is the right thing to do.  However,
using one term to refer to both of those laws (and a bunch of other
laws, too) works against clear thinking.

Have you read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html?
It explains these two issues -- the bias and the confusion.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
  Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call