A Murdoch newspaper in Australia published a report claiming that plain packaging for cigarettes has increased sales. It seems to be a false report.

The fact that the report is backed by the tobacco companies shows it can't be true. If this policy really did increase cigarette sales, they would favor the policy.

One of the distortions from the Australian has infiltrated the Guardian article: the term "intellectual property rights". That term is a misleading generalization about unrelated laws, and it's used to suggest these laws represent a bogus "principle" that never existed in the first place.

Every statement formulated using "intellectual property rights" should be distrusted. I take care not to use the term. I won't even cite it without denouncing it as bogus.

See http://gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html.