I see what Gnu is saying, but I also think the term "IP" is in and of itself innocuous. I see no harm per se in an umbrella term for copyright, patents and trademarks and feel that some of the ire is much ado about nothing.

Rather than going to war over semantics, they should focus on battling the bastardization of the principles (ie, stupidly long copyrights, et al). What Gnu and others don't seem to get is that "IP" has become a strawman, a foil for arguments that dilutes the real dissension and induces time wasted on things of lesser importance... like terms.



EDIT: that last comment was meant half tongue-in-cheek. It just doesn't come across, sorry. Need a new smiley...