I'd like there to be a focus area about Intellectual Property issues including subtopics like open source software, open creation (Creative Commons), open patents, copyright reform, software patent reform etc.

I didn't find the result of following the suggested link satisfying. It points to various related issues like Technology Transfer and Biological Patents and some other which I fully agree are appropriate topics for this forum, but it doesn't cover topics like software patents (in my opinion even more flawed than biological patents) and alternatives to copyright.

The problem with software patents is that they stifle innovation by creating a hidden minefield of ownership rather than encouraging innovation and collaboration as the patent system was intended to do. I agree with part of what Mike said about corporations essentially co-opting the concept of intellectual property for their own ends, but the point is to find creative ways to take back those rights and find effective ways to share ideas and protect the creations of individuals from being co-opted while maintaining the freedom to share and collaborate freely.

In terms of specific issues, the debate around the Gnu Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3) is important at a number of levels. A great deal of open source software is under GPLv2 and much of it will by default automatically update to the new version of the license. Many (myself included) consider that a good thing, but some definitely don't.

Another specific issue that a lot of people aren't aware of are the incompatibility between some of the Creative Commons licenses and default license for Wikipedia (the Gnu Free Documentation License). It is very important for the legal strength of these mechanisms for collaboration for the communities that use them to use them correctly. For example, nothing that gets posted to WiserEarth under it's current license (CC by-nc 3.0) should be used on Wikipedia. Wikipedia requires that content added to it be commercially distributable. The WiserEarth license prevents that.

I just suggested that there would be an Area "Information Commons" that focuses on fields where Intellectual Property is outruled. It is one aspect to discuss intellectual property and something different to review copyright-free practises in all fields of human endavours. So I think its not about "fairness" or "unfairness" of patents, but about the ways a patent-free social contract works.

Wikipedia and free Software are just two examples of the enormous potential of non-patent endavours, and there might be a lot of people interested in the fact how things could (and do!) work in this way in agriculture, medicine etc. in a patent-dominated world.