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IBM frees 500 patentsIBM frees 500 patentsPosted Jan 11, 2005 15:46 UTC (Tue) by justme (guest, #19967)In reply to: IBM frees 500 patents by jamesh Parent article: IBM frees 500 patents
I don't think your interpretation #2 would be a problem, since somewhere along the way, that library's source would be available.
I am assuming, of course, that the intent here is that the patents can be used for anything, as long as the implementation source code is made available. If the intent were instead to only make these patents available for use in free software, I think IBM would have gone the GPL route.
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IBM frees 500 patents Posted Jan 12, 2005 7:58 UTC (Wed) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link] Actually, option #2 wouldn't work.
IBM's patent licence relies on *the* *program* being Open Source (as defined, pretty accurately, by IBM).
And remember, it is the *user* who is liable for any patent violation. So any software company that tried to pull that stunt would simply drop its customers right into IBM's firing line. Just like MS dropped its SQL-Server customers right into Timeline's sights...
Cheers,
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