Lets see.
A wind screen is a device or maybe a row of trees that modifies the wind pressure, not the area in front or behind the row of trees.
When you put lotion on your body, the body does not become a "sunscreen"
When you block out areas of a piece of silk to paint a sign, the sign does not become a "silkscreen"
When you have a product in your window opening to prevent bugs from coming in, the house does not become a "bugScreen"
and when the lady goes behind the barrier to change, she does not become a "privacy screen"

Somehow I don't think Mr. Webster is going to edit his little book of meanings to accommodate Mr. Obdyke, especially when it would cause mass confusion for every other meaning of the word "screen"

Seriously now, the term rain screen has been around forever, I can testify to greater then four decades of its use in the industry. And it always applied to the cladding. This is not a new way of building, even old clapboard houses recognized the principal. Some clapboard was installed on wood laths (the same as used in the inside under the horse hair plaster) and some were installed over a double folded strip of tar paper. Houses the pealed and blistered were not installed this way.

The gap or drainage plane was not needed for aluminum or vinyl siding because they were self venting. When the industry started using some other cladding that was not self venting, the cavity wall or air gap had to be codified because people forgot why it use to be used.
Fibre cement is not necessarily self venting and certainly is not after a few coats of paint. It is however somewhat form fitting over time so it will telegraph any flaws of the structure behind it so it will likely turn somewhat wavy over materials that do not give it rigid support, especially over two layers.

A continuous horizontal vent plane will not behave the same as vertical vent chambers. Vertical vent chambers (strapping) will have a slight pressure differential from top to bottom due to convection. In a wind storm, the horizontal plane will have different pressures along the wall in the direction of the wind. The furthest end of the wall will have a negative pressure on the outside of the cladding due to the venturi effect which may cause the closest end of the wall to suck moisture into the assemble. This may or may not be a problem depending on the circumstances.

How proven is Slickers record? Five years? 15 years? Not a long time in this industry.
The gap is often more important in warm moist climates then in cold dry climates. However since the Canadian codes require interior vapour barriers an outward drying path may be needed.

702.7.3 is hardly a definition of vented cladding. All it appears to be saying is that because aluminum and vinyl siding is self venting, as long as it is applied over a WRB, it does not need any other air gap. The same goes for any other cladding that is approved as self venting. 702.7.1 simply gives permission for the use of class three vapour barriers on the inside of a wall assembly if there is a drying path to the outside, that being a self venting cladding, nothing about an air gap. If there is a better definition of either vented cladding or rain screen please reference it.

Benjamin Obdyke rainscreen is NOT a continuous horizontal vent plan. Benjamin Obdyke rainscreen is installed fully open on both the top and bottom of the wall. As such, Benjamin Obdyke rainscreen provides a continuous vertical vent plan that provides maximum chimney effect venting for 100% of the wall surface. There isn’t any venting at all where vertical wood furring is placed and this is where moisture gets trapped, which ultimately causes failure. Benjamin Obdyke has been in the building supply business since 1868.

Sailor(ette) - maybe I missed it but I cannot find anything in their documentation that indicates there is some sort of rib or solid piece in the mesh to prevent horizontal pressure differentials. The fact that it is open top and bottom may not prevent the horizontal differential.

If we assume a 1/2 inch air gap is going to shed moisture moving from the inside through drywall, insulation, sheathing and a WRB, I think it is safe to assume that wood furring strips will edge dry into that same cavity. As well, when using shiplap configuration of James Hardie siding, more than 60% of the face of the furring strip is also expose to the air gap. Demolition of hundred year old houses indicate that the furring strips outlast the siding.

While it is quite possible that Great grampa Obdyke wore a canvas Slicker, that does not necessarily mean that the Slicker produced today has the same credentials. Even the best companies occasionally turn out duds.
That said, I am not trying to suggest that the Slicker product is not as good as they claim. I think it would be a good (maybe even a very good) product under some stucco type or masonary type products. I would just contend that it is not a rain screen but a gap substitute. Also I see no added value in using this expense product over ICF when the plywood strapping works better from both a channeling perspective and a fastening perspective.