[Upd-discuss] Did You Say "Intellectual Property"? It's,a Seductive Mirage by Richard M. Stallman

[Richard Stallman]

    Conversely, I can see the usefulness of a term like "IP abuse" for
    campaigning against the abuse of these laws and practices. That
    leads naturally into the way big companies with big reputations
    and budgets get away with (got away with decades ago in the case
    of the Texaco star) registering trademarks and patents that -- had
    the rules been followed -- they shouldn't have been able to register.

If your only criticism of the current system is that sometimes the
rules are not followed, then you do fundamentally disagree with the
Union for the Public Domain.  Our aim is to change these rules.

    If, on the other hand, you believe that "property is theft", then
    "intellectual property" is also theft and that's that.

This fallacy is known as a "false choice".  It consists of saying "If
you don't agree with me, you must support some extreme opposition view
(which everyone is expected to reject)."  The false choice you're
offering us is between total support for existing rules, and
communism.

The Union for the Public Domain holds a position somewhere in between
those two extremes.  A position that, you try to pretend, is not
even possible to consider.

If you are opposed to the Union for the Public Domain, you might be
doing this as a way to distract the discussion and prevent the
organization's views from being rationally considered.