Stuart Cohen of OSDL on patent commons project
from Stuart Cohen in businessweek.com:
The other controversial issue in open source involves patents. Software patents are always a concern for developers and customers of proprietary and open-source software alike. The American Intellectual Property Law Association estimated the price tag to defend a typical software-patent lawsuit at $3 million.
At OSDL, we don't have an immediate solution to this vexing problem for the general software industry. But we applaud recent steps taken by companies such as IBM (IBM ), Nokia (NOK ), Novell (NOVL ), Red Hat (RHAT ), Sun Microsystems (SUNW ), and others to pledge many of their software patents to a "patent commons" for the benefit of the open-source community.
STRENGTH IN SHARING. More than 3,000 patents have been pledged to date. We expect many more to follow.
The idea is that a pool of software licenses and software patents (issued and pending) are held in something like a virtual trust for the benefit of both developers and users of open-source software. In general, the vendors who make this pledge are promising not to litigate against people and companies whom they might otherwise sue. These pledges help reassure companies who run open-source software in their business.
We like this idea so much that we're about to take it one step further. We're establishing an OSDL patent commons project that aims to centralize the good works of these vendors, as well as future individuals and organizations who may wish to pledge patents.
INVITATION TO BILL. By establishing and maintaining a central repository with a library and database, we want to remove the logistical and administrative challenges both for those who pledge patents and those who use open-source software. We would hope that a one-stop commons -- overseen by a nonprofit, vendor-neutral, and trusted friend -- helps everyone.
The patent commons project is another demonstration of how open source and Linux encourage contributions and sharing for the benefit of consumers and business. While I don't expect Bill Gates to really ask his customers for input on the software license for Windows, I do encourage him to consider a contribution to the OSDL patent commons project.
Who knows, perhaps one or two of the 50 million lines of software code in Windows XP may infringe on an open-source patent?
The other controversial issue in open source involves patents. Software patents are always a concern for developers and customers of proprietary and open-source software alike. The American Intellectual Property Law Association estimated the price tag to defend a typical software-patent lawsuit at $3 million.
At OSDL, we don't have an immediate solution to this vexing problem for the general software industry. But we applaud recent steps taken by companies such as IBM (IBM ), Nokia (NOK ), Novell (NOVL ), Red Hat (RHAT ), Sun Microsystems (SUNW ), and others to pledge many of their software patents to a "patent commons" for the benefit of the open-source community.
STRENGTH IN SHARING. More than 3,000 patents have been pledged to date. We expect many more to follow.
The idea is that a pool of software licenses and software patents (issued and pending) are held in something like a virtual trust for the benefit of both developers and users of open-source software. In general, the vendors who make this pledge are promising not to litigate against people and companies whom they might otherwise sue. These pledges help reassure companies who run open-source software in their business.
We like this idea so much that we're about to take it one step further. We're establishing an OSDL patent commons project that aims to centralize the good works of these vendors, as well as future individuals and organizations who may wish to pledge patents.
INVITATION TO BILL. By establishing and maintaining a central repository with a library and database, we want to remove the logistical and administrative challenges both for those who pledge patents and those who use open-source software. We would hope that a one-stop commons -- overseen by a nonprofit, vendor-neutral, and trusted friend -- helps everyone.
The patent commons project is another demonstration of how open source and Linux encourage contributions and sharing for the benefit of consumers and business. While I don't expect Bill Gates to really ask his customers for input on the software license for Windows, I do encourage him to consider a contribution to the OSDL patent commons project.
Who knows, perhaps one or two of the 50 million lines of software code in Windows XP may infringe on an open-source patent?
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 5:31 AM
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