Re: gpl licensing

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > And from patents... which work in almost exactly the opposite
   > form of trade secrets.

   Patents, copyrights, and to a lesser extent trademarks are all
   transferrable "rights against the world" and thus have enough of
   the characteristics of property to be treated as a form of property
   by the law.

Not even in the slightest.  Property law is quite different from
copyright/patent/trademark law.

   The only reason for classing trade secrets as intellectual property
   is that the same lawyers deal with them as with patents etc.

Again, the term `intellectual property' has no meaning leagally, and
is only used to make matters confusing into thinking that intangible
objects like ideas can be "owned".  You cannot own intangible objects.