IBM Calls for Patent Reform

Posted by samzenpus on Monday April 11, 2005 @12:02AM from the level-playing-field dept.

daria42 writes "IBM has called for tighter regulation of patents and a review of intellectual property ownership issues in collaborative software development. The company is one of the largest patent-holders in the United States. IBM executive Jim Stallings said examining patents for prior art should not only be the job of the patent office but that the wider community should be involved. Stallings also called on the industry to stop what he calls "bad behaviour" by companies who either seek patents for unoriginal work or collect and hoard patents."

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Re:Karma whoring at its best by Red_Harvest · 2005-04-11 01:07 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Me too!
Without Patents little guys loose by Ironsides · 2005-04-11 01:53 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Without patents, a little guy can invent something, and then a big guy can come along and copy it. Not having paid for the research into it, they can probably sell it for less too. Result - Little guy goes out of business and big guys keep selling product for $$$.

Patents can protect the small guys from the big guys.

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