Paul Jones, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, a guest poster and frequent commentor on OrangePolitics, and also a "polymath" (who knew?) is interviewed by John Murawski of the News & Observer on the implications of IBM's recent decision to release 500 software patents to the public.
Q:IBM this week gave open-source users access to 500 software patents. Why is this significant?
A:It removes the fear of ever being sued for violating those over-broad patents.
If nothing else, they remove barriers that keep individuals and groups from being more creative and productive.
In the larger scheme, it signals that some things are wrong with the copyright-and-patent system. Recent developments in the past, say, 25 years have gone in the direction that is counter to creativity and production.
One of the open things about open source and sharing communities is that they are greater than local. They allow people to be creative across time, space and culture.
Continue reading A chat with... Paul Jones, UNC-CH
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