Never afraid to reach new heights on the unintentional comedy scale, Microsoft UK debuted its Thought Thieves film competition in May. Microsoft called for original videos "about people stealing the ideas in your head" and "intellectual property theft."

To counter this misleading campaign, a few good souls "stole" the idea and started the Thought Thieve$ film competition "about big companies stealing and profiting from the knowledge commons."

"Think about it: how would you feel if you saw your cultural traditions, collective creativity, thousands-year-old seed strains, indigenous medicinal knowledge, or even your very genetic code being passed off as the property of some multinational corporation? What would you do?

Here's an opportunity to tell your story. Send in your short film by September 16, 2005 for a chance to win prizes and be included in an international distribution and screening series. EFF is an affiliate of the competition.

More info is available here. Feel free to steal this post and pass it on.