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A technology manager at Sun Microsystems looks into IBM's recent announcement that it will provide general access to patents related to a set of industry standards: "If you look at the wording, [IBM] talk about this thing called 'necessary claims'," [James Eagleton] says. "Basically it leaves a little window of opportunity there where [IBM] can apply a 'necessary claims test' [to prove] whether it was necessary to use that standard and if they could have done it by some other means. It leaves a little window of opportunity to come later on for IBM to follow up with some action." And did anybody think IBM gave access to its patents for anything other than strategic reasons? Perhaps some folks thought IBM likes to give patents away to support the Free Culture Movement. Come on, IBM is one of the smartest, and most successful firms in the world, and it didn't get there by setting aside it business interests.
posted by Noel Le @ 5:11 PM | Patents
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