From bfa8f4e13202aacddf0821b1954f7682f3d8b91a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Richard M. Stallman" Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 21:53:41 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add footnote about "intellectual property rights". --- etc/GNU | 10 +++++++++- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/etc/GNU b/etc/GNU index f85e6d7a254..89dea92540a 100644 --- a/etc/GNU +++ b/etc/GNU @@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ that.) other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult. - People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights + People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights(6) carefully (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts of @@ -530,3 +530,11 @@ this way. Have you done your part? (5) A group of computer companies recently pooled funds to support maintenance of the GNU C Compiler. + (6) In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was to speak +of "the issue" of "intellectual property". That term is obviously +biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together various +disparate laws which raise very different issues. Nowadays I urge +people to reject the term "intellectual property" entirely, lest it +lead others to suppose this is one coherent issue. The way to be +clear is to to discuss patents, copyrights, and trademarks separately. +See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html. \ No newline at end of file -- 2.39.2