With one act, IBM has made cooperation a friend of innovation, and taken a good swat at Microsoft’s hegemony concerning software patents.

IBM has promised developers access to certain patents it holds in perpetuity. These patents cover various key technologies within open standards. Some of the 150 covered standards are XSL, Xpath, and Open Document.  The pledge from IBM assures non-assertion of patent rights for as long as the spirit of cooperation, and reciprocal treatment continues.

Since Congress is currently looking at patent reform, this is a major step for making that unnecessary in the software realm.

IBM further states that what is good for open source, is also good for the entire industry, with cooperation allowing a new era of interoperability and competition producing better products for all.

Unlike Microsoft’s vague agreements with individual entities, which are specious and limited to the ‘good spirit and indeterminate benevolence of Microsoft’, the IBM act is one which removes barriers, rather than selectively polices them.

[tags] software patents, patent reform, IBM, Microsoft, open standards, Patent Reform Act, U.S. Congress [/tags]