IBM Grants Universal and Perpetual Access To IP

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 11, 2007 @09:06PM from the free-at-last dept.

StonyandCher writes "IBM is making it easier to utilize its patented intellectual property to implement nearly 200 standards in the SOA, Web services, security and other spaces. Under a pledge issued by the company Wednesday, IBM is granting universal and perpetual access to intellectual property that might be necessary to implement standards designed to make software interoperable. IBM will not assert any patent rights to its technologies featured in these standards. The company believes its move in this space is the largest of its kind."

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Good first step... by jkrise · 2007-07-11 21:13 · Score: 0, Troll

The logical second step would be to Open Source their offerings, so developers can enhance them without fear. Will Lotus Notes on Linux be open sourced? What about Websphere? Mere lifting of patent threats on XML, SOAP etc. is only a half-hearted measure.

Still, it is quite a big step in the right direction though, kudos to IBM for that!

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If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....