Lit Review: Company Promises
One interesting thing that some companies do is create promises concerning software patents. Among these are Red Hat, IBM, and Google.
The Good:
- Red Hat agrees to refrain from any sort of patent enforcement for open-source projects
- IBM has committed to not enforcing many of their patents for FOSS projects
- Google’s definition relies on the OSI definition
The Bad:
- Red Hat only protects based on specific licenses
- IBM’s commitment only holds for 500 of their patents, listed in the pledge
- Google has a similar list to IBM’s
The Questions:
- If Red Hat is so opposed to software patents, what reasons do it have for having some?
- Why are some of these (US6332219 for instance) patentable in the first place?
- What consitutes “direct financial interest” in Google’s Pledge?
I noticed that IBM and Google had many similarities, the difference being mainly the patents involved and that Google has an escape clause
Rating: 7/8 Stallman Beards