I.B.M. Puts Its Patent Filings Online

From Steve Lohr in this morning's New York Times, Hoping to Be a Model, I.B.M. Will Put Its Patent Filings Online

I.B.M., the nation’s largest patent holder, will publish its patent filings on the Web for public review as part of a new policy that the company hopes will be a model for others.

If widely adopted, the policy could help to curb the rising wave of patent disputes and patent litigation.

The policy, being announced today, includes standards like clearly identifying the corporate ownership of patents, to avoid filings that cloak authorship under the name of an individual or dummy company. It also asserts that so-called business methods alone — broad descriptions of ideas, without technical specifics — should not be patentable. ...

The encouragement of realtime patent reviews, and a bit more light shed on patent filings (in advance of patent awards), plays to the strength of the internet's communal and social nature. Finding the road to transparency and openness in intellectual property is not easy. I'm encouraged that IBM and other big-name companies are making moves like this. I wonder how long it will be before the smaller companies take the plunge? Is it too dangerous? Does it offer unknown advantages?

Technorati Tags: Intellectual Property