IBM Corp is renowned for its rich storehouse of patented inventions. It once again led the research sweepstakes in the US last year, collecting 3,248 patents, more than any other company. And it earned more than US$1 billion last year from licensing and selling its ideas.
So why has IBM shifted course recently, giving away some of the fruits of its research instead of charging others to use it? The answer is self-interest.
Diverging from conventional wisdom, the company has calculated that sharing technology can sometimes be more profitable than jealously guarding its rights on patents, copyrights and trade secrets. The moves by IBM, the world's largest supplier of information technology services and computers, are being closely watched throughout the business world.
PHOTO: AFP
Earlier this year, IBM made a broad gesture toward what it called a new era in how it controls intellectual property. It announced in January that it would make 500 patents -- mainly for software code that manages electronic commerce, storage, image processing, data handling and Internet communications -- freely available to others.
And it pledged that more such moves would follow.
This month, the company said that all of its future patent contributions to the largest standards group for electronic commerce on the Web, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, would be free.
IBM is at the forefront, but companies in industry after industry are also reconsidering their strategies on intellectual property: What do you share? What do you keep proprietary?
The Internet, globalization and cost pressures are driving bus-inesses to collaborate in the pursuit of higher productivity and profits, and to accelerate the pace of product development. This requires companies to share more technical information with corporate customers, suppliers and industry partners. The result, is that the terms of trade in intellectual property, and the boundary lines, are shifting.
"The business world today is engaged in a huge experiment in figuring out what different parts of intellectual property should be open and closed," said Steven Weber, director of the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. "The fate of many companies, and the strength of national economies, will depend on how the experiment turns out."
The change at IBM began last May when Samuel Palmisano, IBM's chief executive, told John Kelly, a senior vice president, to lead a team to reconsider how the company handles its intellectual property.
Kelly recalled his boss telling him, "This is a hugely important area, and I think we need to redirect our strategy and policy and practices." Palmisano, according to Kelly, then added, "If any company can take the lead on this, it's us."
Kelly, leading a 12-person group, traveled, studied, brought in outside specialists, and by last September concluded that more of IBM's homegrown ideas should be shared instead of being tightly held.
The shift, admittedly, is carefully calibrated.
IBM is not forsaking its lucrative technology licensing business or pulling back on new patent filings. And the company is not giving away the technology for its mainframe computers, its proprietary database software and other complete products.
Instead, it is freely contributing the technology building blocks that allow broader communication across industry networks.
Such moves do carry risk for IBM.
"When you open some of your technology, it forces you to run higher up that economic food chain in your business," said Jim Stallings, an IBM vice president for intellectual property and standards.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS