Inept IP Propaganda

Eh? Why don’t we just call it intellectual property?

Why do we introduce new terms like ‘copyright’ and ‘license’ – and what the heck does ‘license’ mean anyway? Why not just stick to ‘keep’, ‘lend’, ‘give’, ‘sell’?

And I’ve heard these terrible rumours that if you produce an intellectual work as part of your employment, that you cease being able to share your work with your friends or improve it (unless your employer lets you).

I’ve also heard that this can happen to artists and authors if they sell their ‘copyright’, what ever that is. And then whoever buys it can promise a share of profits in proportion to the number of copies sold (that for some strange reason no-one else can), though I’ve also heard this often results in no payment at all and the artist being prosecuted if they try to work for anyone else.

Seems to me things would be a lot simpler if we just ditched the silly concepts of copyright and licensing and just had property, whether material or intellectual. It would be a lot simpler and easier for everyone to understand.

You want me to produce an intellectual work? Pay me $10,000 – it’s yours. You want a copy? Pay me $10 – it’s yours. You want another copy? Hey, why don’t you try making your own copies or find someone else to make them? I’m not in the business of making and selling copies. Think you can burgle my house and steal the draft of the work I’ve almost finished, or make off with a surreptitious copy of it? If my guard dog doesn’t get you for stealing my intellectual property, the police will. Think you can pretend my work is authored by you, or that your work is authored by me? If you don’t stop, someone, if not me, will probably sue you.

Now that’s simple. It doesn’t need a video – except to de-program the credulous.