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Hola, everybody.  Light fare for a Friday afternoon...

Hey, this little company I work for (ticker symbol IBM) did what I think is
a Really Neat Thing, and I am dying of curiousity about how this erudite
and august body will react.

Basically, IBM gave 500 of its patents to the open source community, by
legally promising never to 'assert' them against OSS. (Now, I'm no lawyer
-- I have enough people that don't like me already -- but it sure looks on
the up-and-up to my Big Blue eyes.)

Personally, I'm very excited by this -- my name is on one of these patents
-- and I could not be happier.  Developing IP has always been a love/hate
thing for me, with most of the justification being 'defensive:' "If we
don't, they will..."  Now, when I think "patent" I am going to feel a LOT
better about it.  Self-delusion?  Maybe...   You be the judge.

Anyway, here are the links:
      story:
http://w3-03.ibm.com/systemstechnology/technology/news/2005/0111-patents.html
      list (PDF):
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/licensing/patents/pledgedpatents.pdf

(btw, the one that's near and dear to my heart is US5701489  :-)

Comments?  Scathing rebuttals?  Angry accusations?  (Whaddy think this is,
Fox News?)  ;-)

-blair

  ___   _           Blair Wyman                  IBM Rochester
 ( /_)  /  _  ' _   (507)253-2891            blairw@xxxxxxxxxx
__/__)_/_<_/_/_/_'  Opinions expressed may not be those of IBM



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