The devil is in the details

The devil is in the details

Posted Jan 14, 2005 16:41 UTC (Fri) by filipjoelsson (subscriber, #2622)
In reply to: The devil is in the details by rgoates
Parent article: IBM's patent pledge

From the beginning of this article:
"According to the statement, IBM has indicated it will not assert any of the 500 patents against distributors of open source software, so long as the distributing party does not file lawsuits using patents or other intellectual property rights against open source software."

So, if I have a patent - I can ask for money, but if the other ditributor will not give me any - I can't sue. It is not enough that I too license 500 patents to open source, or a proportional part of my patent portfolio (compared to IBM). No, if I want to sue for some reason - I have to ask IBM for permission.

The only way out of this license mess, is if an equally strong player as IBM take them up on the offer - and license another 500 patents. Preferably patents that the licensor knows that IBM is already using - without paying for the priviledge. Now, there are not that many such players - but perhaps Intel, AMD or Novell are strong enough?

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