IBM and patents

Folks,

Y'all know IBM sold their PC biz last year, getting out of microcomputiong
hardware...

Also last year IBM, usa's #1 patent holder, announced royalty free use of
patents...


http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2005-01-13-a.html


this trend started actually in 2002

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-886526.html


Now they are actually opening their doors and letting people inside...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060314/bs_nf/42091

As far as I can tell the strategy is to get in front of "open source"
movement...

Necessarily, without patent monopoly protection, IBM will have to rely on
superior marketing
to maintain profits and leadership in the market, just as J&J does with Tylenol,
america's #1
medicine, an example contradictng all argument for patent protection.

The IBM thing is very good news if it leads to the regime of intellectual
property rights
atrophying, and a concomitant skill in marketing emerge in usa and in usa
selling to the
world.

John

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