Sunday, January 2, 2011

Oh Darn, I Named This Blog Incorrectly

I called this blog "IPDuck" with the "IP" short for "Intellectual Property."  Well, "Intellectual Property" is really just a shorthand for patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets (and maybe other things).  It's cumbersome to list all four of those things when you can abbreviate them to "Intellectual Property" or even shorter, "IP."

Only problem is the use of the word "property."  "Property" usually means things like your house (real property) or valuable possessions, like jewelry (personal property).  But patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets aren't really like that, for a bunch of reasons.  For example, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets are legal rights only to exclude others from doing things -- patents in particular don't give you the right to practice your own invention.  (Imagine owning a house where you didn't have the legal right to live in it yourself, but only had the right to exclude other people from staying there.  Not much of a house, eh?)

In a blog post last week, Mike Masnick's blog points out that the term "Intellectual Property" is misleading in its use of the term "property."  See "Exposing the False Sanctity of Intellectual Property."   In a post later that same day, Masnick further points out that the term "Intellectual Property" is a relatively recent term.  Masnick's solution?  Call it "Intellectual Pooperty."

So maybe I misnamed this blog.  At least, keep in mind that I'm using a shorthand for convenience, and not asserting that there are any "property" rights in "IP."

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