[Patents] Greg upset about "peace, love, linux"

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

In Patnews, Greg's news organ, available to those who refrain from
publicly criticising Greg, and to others, like myself, who get it
indirectly, there is an extra article whose subject matter bears no direct
relation to patents:

>     --  GREAT IRONY FROM IBM'S ADS PROMOTING LINUX

> IBM either has developed a great sense of humor, or has thrown shame
> out of the window, but one of the current advertisements is so
> ironically hilarious as to make me think that they are doing both of
> the above. The advertisement praises Linux, Linus Torvalds, and IBM's
> use and promotion of Linux.  All well and fine, and certainly a more
> legal promotion than spray painting those obnoxious logos that are
> polluting the sidewalks of San Francisco and other cities (IBM lieing
> through its teeth when it said that it used an ink that quickly
> disappears).

> But consider the following IBM praise from the ad:
>
>         When Torvalds created the new Linux operating system, he
>         took the "what's mine is mine and what's your is yours"
>         world of proprietary software and turned it upside down.

> And what company has for decades, and still is, abusing the software
> patent system to support its role as the dominant proprietary software
> vendor? IBM.  Pure hypocritical irony.  No one should be fooled.  IBM
> is using Linux to undermine its competitors, and once it has done
> that, it will go back to its old proprietary ways.

How has IBM been abusing the software patent system?

As the IBM patent lawyer said in London 2000-10-20:  IBM is just a
rational player who observes that the mayor is handing out guns to all
citizens and therefore sees to it that he gets his hands on some of the
best guns.

It is true that IBM, due to the great influence of its patent department,
has had a lot of ressources available to push for software patents.  Yet
even on that account they didn't behave more abusively than other large
companies.  I'd say less abusively, because they have been very much under
the eye of public scrutiny.

Also, there is nothing wrong with propagating a non-proprietary approach
to some computing problems while at the same time preferring a proprietary
approach for others.  There is nothing in IBM's ad campaign that pretends
that IBM condemns or has given up proprietary software development.
Moreover, it is normal that different tendencies coexist within one
organisation.

I can't help getting the impression that the author of the quoted text is
feeling very uneasy about both the success of Linux and the backing it is
getting from IBM, as this could slowly induce more and more people to
start thinking about how to cut back the patent system, and not just about
how to find a good patent buster.

--
Hartmut Pilch                                           http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation        http://swpat.ffii.org/
80000 signatures against software patents         http://www.noepatents.org/