Mike Masnick writes an article about the issues of the term "Intellectual Property". This article is part of his series on Intellectual Property http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080228/003450379.shtml .

This month's headlines:
- Inside stories by a critical thinker: interview with FSFE co-founder Bernhard Reiter
- Get Rid of "Intellectual Property"
- Support FSFE in critical thinking
- Get active: Read and distribute "crime story" on "When patents attack"

"Last week, we discussed Techdirt's tale of 'Hollywood Accounting,' which showed how movies like Harry Potter still officially 'lose' money with some simple accounting tricks. This week Techdirt is taking on RIAA accounting and demonstrating why most musicians — even multi-platinum recording stars — may never see a dime from their album sales."

This post addresses common new criticisms of the FSF and/or its philosophy

The case known as "In re bilski" has the potential to go some way towards righting some of the wrongs of the patent industry, while coincidently, transforming the prospects for innovation in the information and software industries.

One of the enduring soap operas this year has involved the ongoing patent infringement threats by Microsoft against “Linux, OpenOffice, email, and other open source software.” According to Microsoft, 235 of its (unnamed) patents are being infringed, and it should be entitled to be paid for this use of its intellectual property.

While Microsoft is whining that it does not make as much money as it used to (the convenient excuse is counterfeiting), GNU/Linux is actually making further progress on the desktop and Valve starts viewing GNU/Linux as a first-class citizen

Patent Failure examines the current state of the American patent system based on the way it has traditionally been treated–as a type of property system. Using the yardstick of property rights and the economics they influence, Bessen and Meurer analyze the costs and benefits of patents to innovators.

Sometime computer maker and intellectual property clearing house IBM has threatened the fabric of space-time by attempting to patent profiting from patents.