[Upd-discuss] 3 minutes documentary on Public Domain

[Richard M. Stallman]

    This last post is errant nonsesne. Until you were told (mistakenly) that
    you needed copyright protection to assert ownership over certain rights to
    GNU-related projects, you sang a very differenet tune.

You must be mistaken.  Those words imply a big and sudden change, but
I don't think I have ever made a big or sudden change in my views on
these issues.

It was in 1985 at the latest that I decided to use copyright law (I
decline to call it "protection") as the basis for copyleft, based on
legal advice.  I have no reason to believe this advice was mistaken.

I don't think you could mean to refer to something so far in the past,
but nothing has occurred more recently that those words might fit.

    You have also asserted recently that patents and copyrights (and other IP
    constructs) have little in common and should not be lumped together.

I have been saying for at least ten years that people should not lump
them together.  However, it was only a few years ago that I became
aware of the growing popularity of the term "IP" and the particular
kind of generalizations that it directs people's thoughts to.

    I find it very distressing that these kinds of personal projects have
    begun to interfere with UPD.

The term "IP" interferes with the UPD's work.  Educating people not to
lump copyright and patents together is part of the work that the UPD
should do.