IBM patent tithing
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Another good FT article here. (Subscription required, unfortunately. Which, given its topic, is slightly ironic, to say the least.) It's about IBM releasing 500 patents to open source users. Para of most interest:
So has technology really rewritten the rules of economics? Is IBM right that cyberspace demands a whole new way of doing business? Various communitarian academics have been saying that for years; but when the message comes from the world's largest patent- holder - and one of history's greatest experts at making money from intellectual property - it is clearly time for even the commune-haters to listen.