Stephen Shankland from CNet has an interesting article on Big Blue that calls out several fine-lines the company balances in its aggressive patenting. Its worth a read, but I do not see Big Blue's patenting strategies contrasting with its efforts at patent reform or FOSS business (that is, once the PR rhetoric is cleared through), nor would I tag the company's patent reform proposals as "modest;" which the article may be interpreted to suggest.

I admire Big Blue for many reasons. Few companies have surivived as long. One need only look at the past decade to see how IBM made it this far. Big Blue was one of the first "IP firms" to embrace FOSS, a move I believe many in the industry still misunderstand (hint, it was not for religious reasons). Further, because of its complementary IP-FOSS business, IBM wields a political advantage. The firm can essentially encircle competitors; because IBM's policy interests run the whole IP-FOSS spectrum, it can court their friends and empower their enemies in academia, industry and the policy world. I find it simply amazing to ponder how IBM would affect the formation of allies for policy issues.

For all of you industry buffs caught on Apple and Google, don't forget IBM as one of the "coolest" companies.

posted by Noel Le @ 1:52 AM | Patents

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment(0)