[Upd-discuss] On the 'Creative Commons': A Critique of the Commons without Commonalty

[Richard M. Stallman]

This article's criticism of Creative Commons can be summarized in a
few words.  Creative Commons suggests to copyright holders that they
exercise their power more gently, but it does not criticize the system
which gives them that power.  It does not recommend any decrease in
the power that copyright holders are given.

The article suffers from its use of the term "intellectual property".
This term lumps copyright law together with patent law (and other
laws), the result being a blurry confusion.  The effects of copyright
law come from the details of the restrictions it places on the public.
Patent law imposes totally different requirements, and it's irrelevant
to the issue of copying and modifying creative works.  Bringing it
into the discussion where it is irrelevant is part of the problem of
the term "intellectual property".

See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml for more explanation
about this.