L'iniziativa della Ibm commentata da Reuters e dall'inner circle dei Creative commons (tra cui Lessig).


Tue January 11, 2005 7:54 AM GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM, il colosso statunitense al primo posto per numero di brevetti detenuti, ha in programma di cedere 500 brevetti per uso gratuito a sviluppatori di software.

L'iniziativa rappresenta una forte virata nella strategia relativa alla proprietà intellettuale del maggiore produttore di pc del mondo e una sfida per il settore high-tech affamato di brevetti.

Jim Stallings, vice presidente di IBM a capo dell'area proprietà intellettuale, ha dichiarato in un'intervista che l'offerta di brevetti ha l'obiettivo di incentivare le società ad aprire il loro portafoglio brevetti per stimolare l'innovazione tecnologica.

"Questo rappresenta di gran lunga la maggiore promessa di offerta di brevetti della storia americana", ha detto IBM in un comunicato. "Potete servirvene e crescere e innovare (e) ... per costruire qualche cosa di nuovo", ha dichiarato Stallings, rivolgendosi agli sviluppatori


IBM contributes 500 patents to the public
12:43 JST » Intellectual Property - Software

Ross Mayfield's WeblogIBM Opens the Patent Market
Steve Lohr reports that IBM is open sourcing 500 patents.

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."Perhaps for more than just IBM -- competitors may have to follow, um, suit. While 500 patents is a drop in the bucket for the largest portfolio (40k), this is a significant move and part of a broader strategy to commoditize their inputs, pool risk, leverage a lead in services and change the game.

"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."Amazing things happen when self interest is in group interest. Although I'd like to see what those patents actually are, but I do think this is interesting and good thing to see. They're not the first to take this strategy. I recall Intel doing something similar, pooling patents around development using their chips so that developers could more easily create software without bumping into each other. I think I remember that those were not Intel's patents, but the patents of the developers. ;-) But the strategy is similar. Companies fight for intellectual property protection for self-interest arguing that without it, people will not innovate. On the other hand, many platform providers know that patents often encumber innovation. With software patents in particular, I believe that they stifle innovation more than they create incentives, especially for small companies. It's nice to see patent giants like IBM taking steps like this.