Not wrong at all, @travisp. The (excellent) paper you cite refers to economic value. What I referred to was commercial value. These are not synonyms. Often, the

Not wrong at all, @travisp. The (excellent) paper you cite refers to economic value. What I referred to was commercial value. These are not synonyms. Often, they're antonyms. In many ways, their opposition represents the crux of the issue. The Groklaw post summed it up nicely by saying "That's what protection means. It means protection from innovation. Let's call a spade a spade." The only sense in which IP law directly "protects" intangible goods themselves (as opposed to the economic interests of their rights holders) is when it hinders their obsolescence.