ELEMENTARY MY DEAR…
ELEMENTARY MY DEAR…
How many patents are enough? Or perhaps more importantly, how many patents can be squeezed from one body of knowledge when you're basically doing what everyone else is doing? These questions are fresh in mind as I read the report at eWeek stating that IBM set a new record by receiving 7,534 patents in 2014, the 22nd year in a row that IBM has topped the list for most patents.
Dear Linux Pro Reader,
How many patents are enough? Or perhaps more importantly, how many patents can be squeezed from one body of knowledge when you're basically doing what everyone else is doing? These questions are fresh in mind as I read the report at eWeek stating that IBM set a new record by receiving 7,534 patents in 2014, the 22nd year in a row that IBM has topped the list for most patents.
Needless to say, the company needed many lawyers to secure all those patents, and they will need many, many more if they hope to defend them all. Perhaps more important, think of all the government patent officials who were tied up studying and approving those 7,534 patents, plus all the other IBM patent applications that weren't approved.
Big Blue apparently received around 500 patents for its work relating to the cutting-edge Watson cognitive computing system. Although I'm not a big fan of patents in general, I could certainly guess that the work on Watson would lead to some significant innovations that would, perhaps, meet the government definition for what it takes to be patentable. Surprisingly, though, Watson was not where the attorneys spent most of their time. The biggest share of this record-breaking patent haul went for technologies that the report says "enable key cloud computing, analytics, mobile, social, and security advancements."
Cloud computing, analytics, mobile, social networking, and security have been on everyone's mind this year. Hundreds of high-tech companies (some nearly as giant as IBM) and millions of people have worked in these fields for a generation or more – and some companies have done considerably more work on these topics than IBM. Yet we are encouraged to believe that IBM alone came up with several thousand significant, unique, and unprecedented "inventions" in one year from insights that had previously escaped the notice of HP, Apple, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, Google, Dell, Facebook, and the rest of an industry that sinks billions of dollars every year into research and development?
Aw, come on now … we don't need Watson to tell us what to think about that.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.