IBM Pledges 500 Patents to Open Source

After promising last year not to harass Linux users with patent lawsuits, IBM has officially pledged 500 specific patents to the entire Open Source community. What does it really mean for Open Source developers and the future legal status of Linux?

Nicholas Wells

Sunday, May 15th, 2005

Following up on a promise last August to not use its vast patent portfolio against Linux users, IBM pledged in January to give 500 patents to open source developers. To some, this has come across as too little too late, as IBM still lobbies for software patent legislation in Europe, still receives more United States patents each year than any other company, and still makes oodles of money from licensing those patents to commercial developers. But IBM’s actions are laudable and significant for at least two reasons.

First, the gift lessens the possibility that open source software, Linux or otherwise, will be subject to litigation for patent infringement. Second, the grant signals a high-level acceptance of at least some of the concepts set forth in the latest legal scholarship espousing a framework for innovation that relies more on open access to technology than it does on traditional intellectual…