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

[Richard Stallman]

      I guess one definition of property could be the restriction
    of the freedom of others (than the owner).  And copyright, trademarks
    and patents would seem to have this in common.

Yes, they do, but not trade secrets.

You seem to be trying to argue the position that "intellectual
property" is not absolute nonsense.  That's true, but why argue about it?
It's not the point.

The point is that the term focuses attention on the abstractions that
these disparate laws have in common, rather than on what they actually
do.  That bias leads to a mistaken approach to policy in these various
areas.