I tend to not agree with RMS's, what I would call, pedantry about exact terminology, but he is definitely right about the term "intellectual property". I happen to think that copyrights and patents should be abolished, each for different reasons, but trademarks should not. I would even be open to strengthening trademark restrictions a little, though I don't think it would actually be necessary. The similarities between these laws are so trivial and unimportant, lumping them together just doesn't make any sense. It's kind of like if we had a "radiation control" category covering anything that has anything to do with invisible, non-infrared radiation (including radio/microwave communication, microwave ovens, and nuclear power plants). Just because you can find some way to put several things into the same category doesn't mean you should.

Reply via email to