Did You Say "Intellectual Property"? It's a Seductive Mirage - GNU Project - Free Soft... - 43 views
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The term carries a bias that is not hard to see: it suggests thinking about copyright, patents and trademarks by analogy with property rights for physical objects.
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Kelly Cousins on 23 Jan 10Michael Geyer- I think this is where the confusion of it all sets in like we discussed.
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The term “intellectual property” is at best a catch-all to lump together disparate laws.
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Nonlawyers who hear one term applied to these various laws tend to assume they are based on a common principle and function similarly.
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Since these laws developed independently, they are different in every detail, as well as in their basic purposes and methods.
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If you want to think clearly about the issues raised by patents, or copyrights, or trademarks, the first step is to forget the idea of lumping them together, and treat them as separate topics.