[Discussioni] [PATENT] OSDL annuncia il progetto "Patent Commons"

[Andrea Glorioso]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-09-2005/0004085622&EDATE=

Leading Linux Advocacy Consortium Will Collect Software Patents and Patent
                 Pledges by Vendors, Industry and Developers

    SAN FRANCISCO, LINUXWORLD, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/  -- The Open Source
    Development  Labs  (OSDL),   a  global  consortium  dedicated   to
    accelerating the adoption   of    Linux, today announced   a   new
    initiative called  the OSDL  patent  commons project  designed  to
    provide   a central  location  where  software  patents and patent
    pledges  will be   housed for  the benefit    of the open   source
    development community and industry.

    "The OSDL patent commons  project   is designed to  increase   the
    utility and   value of the  growing number  of  patent pledges and
    promises in the past year  by providing a central repository where
    intellectual property can be held  for the benefit  of all of us,"
    said Stuart Cohen, CEO of OSDL. "Our goal is to make it easier for
    developers and industry to take   advantage of the good works   of
    vendors,  individuals and  organizations   who may wish  to pledge
    patents and intellectual property in support of the community."

    For  many, the administrative  and  logistical challenges posed by
    granting individual licenses  to the growing open source community
    can be a barrier to the  formal licensing of patents. In addition,
    as   more vendors  such as  IBM,  Nokia,  Novell, Red  Hat and Sun
    Microsystems pledge their intellectual  property to the benefit of
    the open source  community, to date there  has not been a  single,
    reliable place where developers and industry are able to advantage
    of these offerings.

    By contributing patents to the OSDL patent commons project, patent
    holders  can be assured that the  right to enforce  the patents is
    administered by  an  organization dedicating  to  accelerating the
    development  and  use of  open source  software. Developers can be
    assured  that those patents will  not be  enforced against them on
    open source software.

    "Software patents are a huge   potential threat to the ability  of
    people to    work     together on   open  source,"   said    Linus
    Torvalds.  "Making  it easier  for companies  and communities that
    have patents to make those patents available in  a common pool for
    people to use is  one way to try  to help developers deal with the
    threat."

    While still  in  the  planning  stages, the OSDL   patent  commons
    project will initially involve the following:

    -- A library and database  that aggregates patent pledges  made by
       companies. The   library    will also  aggregate    other legal
       solutions, such as  indemnification programs offered by vendors
       of open source software.

    -- A collection of software  patent licenses and software  patents
       (issued and pending) held  for the benefit  of the  open source
       community.

    More details on the OSDL  patent commons project will be announced
    in the coming months.

    "OSDL is the ideal steward for such  an important legal initiative
    as  the patent  commons project,"  said Eben  Moglen, chair of the
    Software Freedom  Law  Center.  "No  matter   what  your stand  on
    software  patents, and  I oppose them,   I call  on developers  to
    contribute to   the OSDL patent commons   project because there is
    strength  in  numbers    and when  individual    contributions are
    collected together it creates  a protective haven where developers
    can innovate without fear."

    About Open Source Development Labs (OSDL)
    OSDL  -- home   to Linus Torvalds,   the creator  of  Linux  -- is
    dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption  of Linux in the
    enterprise.  Founded in 2000 and  supported by a global consortium
    of major   Linux customers  and IT   industry leaders,  OSDL  is a
    nonprofit  organization  that provides  state-of-the-art computing
    and test facilities available to developers around the world. With
    offices  in  China,  Europe, Japan   and the  United States,  OSDL
    sponsors legal  and  development projects  to  advance open source
    software as well  as initiatives for Linux in  telecommunications,
    in the data  center and on enterprise desktops.  Visit OSDL on the
    Web at http://www.osdl.org/ .

    NOTE:  OSDL is a     trademark of Open  Source  Development  Labs,
    Inc. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and
    brands are the property of their respective holders.

SOURCE Open Source Development Labs
Web Site: http://www.osdl.org 

+++

Ciao,

--
Andrea Glorioso		andrea a digitalpolicy.it
                        +39 348 921 4379
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