As I generate shitloads of content playing the API Evangelist on the Internets, I struggle with certain words, as I write each day—one of these words is intellectual property (IP), which Wikipedia defines as:
Intellectual property (IP) rights are the legally recognized exclusive rights to creations of the mind.[1] Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights, trade dress, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets.
I don’t like the phrase intellectual property, specifically because it includes “property”. Nothing that comes from my intellect is property. Nothing. It isn’t something you can own or control. Sorry, what gets generated from my intellect, wants to be free, not owned or controlled—it is just the way it is. I cannot be creative, generate my ideas and projects, if I know the output or results will be locked up.
With this in mind I want to craft a new expression to describe the result of my intellectual output, I’m going to call intellectual exhaust (IE). I like the term exhaust, which has numerous definitions, and reflects what can be emitted from my daily thoughts. You are welcome to collect, observe, remix, learn from, or get high off of the exhaust off my daily work—go right ahead, this is one of the many reasons I work so hard each day. You my loyal reader. One. Single.
In my opinion, you can even make money off my intellectual exhaust, however, no matter what you do, make sure you attribute back, letting people know where your ideas come from. And if you do make some money from it, maybe you can kick some of that back, supporting the things that fuel my intellectual exhaust: sleep, food, water, beer, and interactions with other smart people around the globe. ;-)
P.S. There are other things that fuel my intellectual exhaust, but my lawyer and my girlfriend say I can’t include some of them.
P.S.S. My girlfriend is not my lawyer.
