on the IBM patent "donation" to OSS

[Dave Hull]

> I.B.M. executives said they hoped the company's initial contribution of 500
> patents

I read in some fish wrap somewhere that IBM applies for 500 patents a month
(about the same as Microsoft) and that they are one of the primary contributors
to the European Union Pro-Software-Patent Lobby.

I'd like to say I'm optimistic about the rate of their patent filings, but I'd
be lying. The cynic in me thinks they are probably filing patents for things
that are patently obvious (see previous pun) or perhaps even things for which
"prior art" exists.

The whole patent system seems to be a money making device for large corporations
(and governments) with armies of attorneys. Instead of really investing time and
energy in research that may lead to some legitimate breakthrough, corps divert
their resources to paying attorneys to file patents for insipid ideas and
obvious techniques (see one-click shopping).

Sure, some of the patents these corps get are for truly revolutionary things and
are well-deserved so that they can recover the costs of developing the ideas and
make a reasonable profit. But I fear that much of the patent filing is a hedge
so that they can take money out of the pockets of the little guys who
independently discover the same obvious techniques, etc.

I'm talking out of my league here as I'm not a lawyer. Sorry about that.

--
Dave Hull
http://insipid.com