The Hindu Business Line : IBM frees 500 patents

IBM on Tuesday announced that it pledged open access to key innovations covered by 500 IBM software patents to individuals and groups working on open source software.

The pledge is applicable to any individual, community, or company working on or using software that meets the Open Source Initiative (OSI) definition of open source software now or in the future.

IBM intends for this pledge to form the basis of an industry-wide patent commons in which patents are used to establish a platform for further innovations in areas of broad interest to information technology developers and users, according to a company statement.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has released its annual list of the top patentees. With 3,248, IBM earned more US patents than any other company for the twelfth consecutive year.

IBM had 1,314 more patents than any other company. This is the fourth consecutive year IBM has received more than 3,000 US patents and remains the only company to receive more than 2,000 patents in a year.

IBM invests approximately $5 billion annually in research and development.

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