[Hague-jur-commercial-law] Hague Saturday morning session

[Richard Stallman]

It is a bad thing to use the term "intellectual property" anywhere.
The mere use of that term carried a harmful confusion: namely,
that copyright law, patent law, trademark law, and various other laws
are similar issues and should be grouped together.  Using the term
in this treaty, or even to describe discussions in this treaty,
is a mistake, because it is likely to encourage unclear thinking.

For instance, what would it mean for copyright to be included, or not
included, in the Hague treaty as now proposed?  It isn't clear to me,
because this treaty is about how to interpret contracts, and nothing
else.  I do not assert this question is meaningless; I do not know
enough to claim that.  What I do assert is that it is not very clear
what the question means in concrete terms.

I think that explaining clearly what these two alternatives would
imply in practice, and why, would advance the issue greatly.