Open Source Blog

"IBM is sending a message that innovation and industry growth happens in an open, collaborative atmosphere," comments Bob Sutor, IBM's VP of open source and standards, in a statement. "Users will adopt new technologies if they know that they can find those technologies in a variety of interchangeable, compatible products from competing vendors. We think customers will like this added assurance for the open standards upon which they have come to depend."

Here’s how the pledge works:

“IBM irrevocably covenants to you that it will not assert any Necessary Claims against you for your making, using, importing, selling, or offering for sale Covered Implementations.”

i.e. Just get on with developing interoperability based on these standards – don’t even bother coming to us to get a license, you don’t need one.

“However, this covenant will become void, and IBM reserves the right to assert its Necessary Claims against you, if you (or anyone acting in concert with you) assert any Necessary Claims against any Covered Implementations of IBM or of any third party.”

i.e. But if you assert patent claims against IBM, or any one else for that matter, relating to these standards, you better make sure you’ve got the lawyers ready.

Compare the elegant simplicity of this approach with trying to pick and choose which partners to collaborate with based on complex and divisive patent covenants.

The patents were already available royalty-free, but why bother with the administrative hassle. As IBM states in its FAQ:

“A 'non-assert' pledge makes it even easier for adopters to use the technology since they now needn't go through the administrative steps of obtaining a license. Each developer and user is automatically covered by the non-assert.”

And of course a royalty-free license doesn’t also bring with it the protection for fellow developers.