IBM has pledged 500 of its patents for use by the open source community in an effort to stimulate software development in general and promote the free use of Web services. The Bottom Line: IBM’s promise makes it harder for Microsoft and Sun to monetize Web services transactions. It is also a further signal that anyone wanting to handicap open source through litigation will have to get through IBM first. What It Means: IBM has executed a legally binding, irrevocable promise that anyone developing open source software will be allowed to make royalty-free use of 500 IBM patents with IBM’s full consent. The scope of the patents is expansive, covering areas as diverse as Web services, e-mail, message queuing, Web browsers, parallel processing, database storage, encryption, voicemail systems, and even systems designed to prevent motorists from falling asleep. There is one exception to the pledge: If you use IBM’s patents and then sue someone over open source intellectual property, the protection disappears.
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