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From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
To: Hartmut Pilch <phm@a2e.de>
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In-reply-to: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0308061552550.14238-100000@querty.oas.a2e.de>
	(message from Hartmut Pilch on Wed, 6 Aug 2003 16:40:27 +0200 (CEST))
Subject: Re: [Patents] Washington Times: Internet Patents Divide Industry
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Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2003 18:45:43 -0400
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    > This is a problem we don't need to solve.

    I can't see many people outside the free software community who see this
    as a problem.

It is true that most people don't understand how this phrase is being
used to manage their thinking.

    Patents and copyright serve (or are supposed to serve) a common function
    of preventing cheap imitation and encouraging originality in the interest
    of society.

Looking for similarities is a mistake, because the differences are
much more important.  That's why the term "intellectual property"
is so deeply harmful: it directs attention towards the similarities
and away from the specifics.

