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IBM Ditches Outsourcing Patent
Xenographic writes "IBM has dropped their controversial outsourcing patent, both withdrawing the application and placing it into the public domain. Apparently, it was filed eight months before they implemented more stringent reviews of their patent applications so as to avoid filing for obvious patents, especially business method patents. The notice also says that they would like to thank the community for bringing it to their attention."
We're only speechless because we're still trying to figure out what the catch is. IBM is a company, companies as a rule of thumb aren't nice when it means they're not making money for their shareholders. Just take a look at their comments, it wreaks of PR-speak.
If they passed on this patent, there's a reason why, and it's not because they're trying to be "nice."
It's OK for a company to make money. It's OK for a company to want to make money. It's OK for a company to "push the envelope" to make money.
It is also OK for all of us to PUSH BACK! With words. With our purchases. With actions.
A good company will respond to the wishes of the public and will no when they are about to step over a line the public will not stand for. Admitting they are wrong is a good thing.
Does it mean they won't try something similar in the future? Perhaps, but, that is not the point. The point is that they will respect the voice of the public if the public makes itself heard.
That is really all we can ask for. It is good that things like Slashdot and the rest of the internet allow us all to so unequivocally express our displeasure and let it be known that we feel a company's actions are overstepping what WE THE PEOPLE feel is appropriate.
It is good that a company can get such a clear message to provide them appropriate moral and ethical direction.
Over-the-top Response Guy! Giving "Over-the-Top Responses" since 1970.
> IBM is a company, companies as a rule of thumb aren't nice when it means they're not making money for their shareholders.
Maybe it all boiled down to considering the potential dollars coming from that patent, net of the probable litigation costs, Vs the actual loss of face in front of the geeks that are helping IBM fight MS dominance in the desktop OS.
Well done IBM, the currently less evil of 'em all.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
Regardless of the motive - they did the right thing.
This is something to applaud rather than pour scorn on.
Why does everyone act like it's perfectly normal for companies to act in a completely anti-social manner? I think most people wouldn't accept that from their neighbours and that anti-social actions by companies is hurting our world more than ever.
The future is not in the type of market fundamentalism that we see around us so much. The future is in every part of our society acting somewhat responsibly. IBM is further along that curve than most companies.
This is a good thing, no need to be super-cynical about it.
Yes, more kudos to IBM! Frankly, with this long string of seemingly good-guy/non-evil actions from IBM, I'm tempted to try to send them more business. I don't know about the rest of us here, but over the years, I suspect I've influenced decision makers' vendor choices to the tune of probably about $1M/year now. That includes sending a bunch of guys to Dell (and now HP), RedHat (and now Ubuntu), steering people clear of Novel (and now Apple). I suspect that the sum total of business influenced by we geeks who care about this kind of thing is billions. Good for IBM to get it.
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
Because it -is- 'normal'. It's not right or proper, but it -is- normal.
1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.
It's the way most large corporations act because they -know- they can get away with it and they'll make more money doing so.
I'm one of the few not applauding IBM for this. They did the right thing, and that's good, but they should have done it in the first place. They aren't sorry they did it, either... Notice they'd like to thank us, not apologize to us. This was just another self-serving thing a corporation did that happens to fall in line with what the public wanted, probably because they had no other avenues of profiting from this.
The only way we might really gain from this is if other companies see that listening to the public can get them good publicity, free advertising, and happy customers, and they follow suit. I'm not real hopeful.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Bitter? Twisted? Join the IBM bashing. Yes - there will be jobs outsourced to India, China, Eastern Europe, Africa...indeed anywhere where there are cheaper skilled workers to provide service. That's the way that services companies (all of them...not just IBM) win their business. How many American companies do you know that would choose to pay more for their services to keep the jobs at the supplier in the US?
But IBM is more than just a services company...it does have a social conscience (world community grid, OO.o, patents, support for Linux etc etc), it produces some fantastic technology (System z mainframes, some of the best Unix boxes, some amazing software)...it does real research, not just product development, but real, pure research into physics, computer science...it is actively promoting green computing.
Sure - it's not perfect, there are always bits of a large corporate that are going to be "evil"(TM), I for one am glad that IBM is not a M$, or a SCO etc.
And yes, I do work for IBM, so I am biased. I do feel for my colleagues who are being outsourced...but I know that IBM will do its utmost to find them good jobs.
They got caught trying to wipe their dicks in the cookie jar, and now they're acting altruistic about it.
With the current public opinion on outsourcing (i.e. they're stealing our jobs) IBM knows that they'll come off badly in the press. So the yellow-bellies at IBM backed down.
They're not just evil, they're sneaky too.
Bitter? Twisted? Join the IBM bashing. Yes - there will be jobs outsourced to India, China, Eastern Europe, Africa...indeed anywhere where there are cheaper skilled workers to provide service. That's the way that services companies (all of them...not just IBM) win their business. How many American companies do you know that would choose to pay more for their services to keep the jobs at the supplier in the US?
But IBM is more than just a services company...it does have a social conscience (world community grid, OO.o, patents, support for Linux etc etc), it produces some fantastic technology (System z mainframes, some of the best Unix boxes, some amazing software)...it does real research, not just product development, but real, pure research into physics, computer science...it is actively promoting green computing.
Sure - it's not perfect, there are always bits of a large corporate that are going to be "evil"(TM), I for one am glad that IBM is not a M$, or a SCO etc.
And yes, I do work for IBM, so I am biased. I do feel for my colleagues who are being outsourced...but I know that IBM will do its utmost to find them good jobs.
Actually, IBM has been using the "patent everything for protection" strategy for decades
They rarely sue anybody else for patent infringement. However, if you try to sue them, their lawyers will be happy to point out the three thousand IBM patents that your whatchamacallit infringes.
And they almost never settle. They kept the US Department of Justice in court for well over a decade, as I recall.
It was a sign of the sheer desperation of Darl McBride and crew at SCO when they decided to sue IBM. Yeah, your crappy little $30 million market cap (at that time) company is going to prevail against a company with $40 billion (at that time) in cash. Uh-huh.
... It's OK for a company to "push the envelope" to make moneyDoes this mean that it is OK for a thief to try to steal your precious laptop when you aren't looking, and only return it if you start yelling?
A patent is a monopoly - a restriction of freedom. Supposedly, a patent must document some useful knowledge that was not widely known before. For certain pieces of knowledge, some people might say that they can accept having to withstand a monopoly. But if a patent does not offer anything useful (ie it documents some knowledge that is widely available), then a monopoly on this knowledge would damage the economy and the culture of a country. In such a case, a useless patent on an obvious idea restricts your freedom so much that the patent holder is not very different than a thief. The patent holder of an obvious idea steals your freedom.
So, do you still think it's okay for a company to attempt to steal your freedom when you are busy with something else and you aren't paying much attention? If you notice and you start yelling at them, and they give you back your freedom (revoke the patent themselves), do you feel that you should really thank them?
There are some companies that will attempt to patent anything under the Sun and refuse to cancel their patents even if people take notice - these are the very bad guys. Some other companies will attempt the same but will voluntarily cancel their patents if you catch them - these are the mildly bad guys. A few other companies will never attempt to steal anything from you in the first place and will try to earn their place in the marketplace through respectable and ethical means - these are the good guys, and they are the ones that you should thank.