In a move applauded by open source proponents, IBM has announced that it has no plans to assert its patent portfolio against the heart of Linux kernel, which is the heart of the Linux operating system. Nick Donofrio, a senior vice president at IBM, made the announcement on August 4, 2004 in a speech at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. Mr. Donofrio further challenged other companies in the patent race to follow its example.
The announcement comes on the heels of a study released by Open Source Risk Management (OSRM), an open source insurance fund that sells insurance protection for Linux users, that Linux potentially infringes nearly 300 patents, including 60 patents held by IBM and 27 patents held by Microsoft.
IBM has a history of supporting open source projects. The tech giant recently announced that it would release over half a million lines of Java-based database code from its Cloudscape product to the Apache Software Foundation. The move will enable more open source projects to develop applications in Java.
The competitive equation involving Microsoft, however may be quite different. (See "Microsoft Wants More Patents, Says Gates" in this issue of E-TIPSâ„¢).
For news coverage of the IBM patent announcement, see:
http://news.com.com/2102-7344_3-5296787.html.
For news coverage of the OSRM study, visit:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W27425219.
See news coverage of the Cloudscape announcement at:
http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=132707,00.asp.
Summary by: Jennifer Jannuska
E-TIPS® ISSUE
04 08 18
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