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LG Acquires WebOS Source Code and Patents From HP

Posted by samzenpus on from the gobbled-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes "LG is set to breathe new life into the webOS platform after the company announced today that it has acquired the software and its intellectual property from HP. The news comes after HP abandoned webOS device and software development in August 2011, then open-sourced the platform so that developers might be able to salvage something from the software that was widely acclaimed, despite the lack of smartphone and tablet sales which it powered. LG now claims complete ownership of the webOS source code, its documentation and webOS websites. It has obtained HP licenses, as well as the patents that Palm transferred to its owner when it was acquired in 2010."

3 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The Curse is transferred by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    HP must be breathing a sigh of relief. I hope LG didn't pay much, because they'll now need to hoard every penny they find.

    Or, conversely, maybe it has a chance to thrive if it's being maintained by people who have an idea of what to do with it?

    I don't know much about WebOS, but the fact that HP basically mis-managed it and did a half assed job is more about HP.

    Now, as to whether anybody is actually going to be interested in yet-another-operating-system ... who knows.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  2. Re:The Curse is transferred by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    LG probably just wanted the patents.

  3. Re:Can they do that? by jbolden · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They don't have to revoke anything. They have copyright.

    I own copyright on book X.

    I license A to produce 200 copies for resale
    I license B to make a made for TV movie with unlimited distribution and I get a cut.

    A can't use B's license and B can't use A's license.

    Copyright holders can release things on as many licenses as they want.