IBM to Give Free Access to 500 Patents

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Patrick Wagstrom <pwagstro () andrew cmu edu>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 00:40:51 -0500
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: For IP: IBM to Give Free Access to 500 Patents


> From the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/technology/11soft.html

I.B.M. to Give Free Access to 500 Patents
By STEVE LOHR 

Published: January 11, 2005

I.B.M. plans to announce today that it is making 500 of its software
patents freely available to anyone working on open-source projects, like
the popular Linux operating system, on which programmers collaborate and
share code.

The new model for I.B.M., analysts say, represents a shift away from the
traditional corporate approach to protecting ownership of ideas through
patents, copyrights, trademark and trade-secret laws. The conventional
practice is to amass as many patents as possible and then charge anyone
who wants access to them. I.B.M. has long been the champion of that
formula. The company, analysts estimate, collected $1 billion or more
last year from licensing its inventions.

The move comes after a lengthy internal review by I.B.M., the world's
largest patent holder, of its strategy toward intellectual property.
I.B.M. executives said the patent donation today would be the first of
several such steps.

John Kelly, the senior vice president for technology and intellectual
property, called the patent contribution "the beginning of a new era in
how I.B.M. will manage intellectual property."

I.B.M. may be redefining its intellectual property strategy, but it
apparently has no intention of slowing the pace of its patent activity.
I.B.M. was granted 3,248 patents in 2004, far more than any other
company, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The
patent office is announcing today its yearly ranking of the top 10
private-sector patent recipients.

I.B.M. collected 1,300 more patents last year than the second-ranked
company, Matsushita Electric Industrial of Japan. The other American
companies among the top 10 patent recipients were Hewlett-Packard,
Micron Technology and Intel.

I.B.M. executives say the company's new approach to intellectual
property represents more than a rethinking of where the company's
self-interest lies. In recent speeches, for example, Samuel J.
Palmisano, I.B.M.'s chief executive, has emphasized the need for more
open technology standards and collaboration as a way to stimulate
economic growth and job creation.

On this issue, I.B.M. appears to be siding with a growing number of
academics and industry analysts who regard open-source software projects
as early evidence of the wide collaboration and innovation made possible
by the Internet, providing opportunities for economies, companies and
individuals who can exploit the new model.

"This is exciting," said Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law
School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society. "It
is I.B.M. making good on its commitment to encourage a different kind of
software development and recognizing the burden that patents can
impose." 

I.B.M. has already made substantial contributions to open-source
software projects in the last few years. The company has been the
leading corporate supporter of Linux. It donated computer code worth
more than $40 million to an open-source group, Eclipse, which offers
software tools for building programs. Last year, I.B.M. gave to an
open-source group a database program called Cloudscape, which cost the
company $85 million to develop.

Those past contributions, however, have gone mainly to projects that
serve to make Linux - fast becoming a viable alternative to the
operating systems Windows from Microsoft and Solaris from Sun
Microsystems - more attractive to corporate customers. In that respect,
supporting Linux helps to undermine I.B.M.'s rivals and can be seen as a
smart tactic for I.B.M. The company's commercial software strategy is
focused largely on its WebSphere software, which runs on top of
operating systems. 

Today's move by I.B.M. is not aimed at a specific project, but opens
access to 14 categories of technology, including those that manage
electronic commerce, storage, image processing, data handling and
Internet communications.

"This is much broader than the contributions we've made in the past,"
said Jim Stallings, vice president for standards and intellectual
property at I.B.M. "These patents are for technologies that are deeply
embedded in many industry uses, and they will be available to anyone
working on open-source projects including small companies and individual
entrepreneurs."

I.B.M. executives said they hoped the company's initial contribution of
500 patents would be the beginning of a "patent commons," which other
companies would join. I.B.M. has not yet approached other companies, Mr.
Stallings said.

I.B.M. will continue to hold the 500 patents. But it has pledged to seek
no royalties from and to place no restrictions on companies, groups or
individuals who use them in open-source projects, as defined by the Open
Source Initiative, a nonprofit education and advocacy group. The group's
definition involves a series of policies allowing for free
redistribution, publication of the underlying source code and no
restrictions on who uses the software or how it is used.

Just how far I.B.M. intends to go in granting open access to its patents
is uncertain. The 500 patents are a small slice of its corporate patent
trove of more than 40,000 worldwide and 25,000 in the United States. In
recent years, software patents have accounted for about half of the
patents granted to I.B.M.



------ End of Forwarded Message


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/