Yeah, promising to not assert patents is great in theory, but when IBM did it they asserted 'em anyway.<div><br><div><a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2010/04/ibm-breaks-oss-patent-promise-targets-mainframe-emulator/">http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2010/04/ibm-breaks-oss-patent-promise-targets-mainframe-emulator/</a><br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 8:08 PM, Robert Cornell <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bobnet604@gmail.com" target="_blank">bobnet604@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div>Google talk specifically about specific software but they do own hardware patents.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lets-defend-innovators-against-patent.html" target="_blank">http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lets-defend-innovators-against-patent.html</a></div>

<div><br></div><div><i style="font-size:13.333333015441895px;outline:none;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:normal;padding:0px 0px 0px 1em;margin:0.5em;border-left-width:3px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(221,221,221);display:block;color:rgb(54,54,54);line-height:12.666666984558105px">Picked up from Slashdot.</i><i style="font-size:13.333333015441895px;outline:none;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:normal;padding:0px 0px 0px 1em;margin:0.5em;border-left-width:3px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(221,221,221);display:block;color:rgb(54,54,54);line-height:12.666666984558105px">Google has announced the <a href="http://www.muktware.com/5443/google-takes-pledge-not-sue-open-source-software-unless-first-attacked" style="color:rgb(0,47,47);outline:none;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-size:13.333333015441895px;padding:0px;margin:0px" target="_blank">Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge</a>. In the pledge Google says that they will not sue any user, distributor, or developer of Open Source software on specified patents, unless first attacked.</i><i style="font-size:13.333333015441895px;outline:none;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:normal;padding:0px 0px 0px 1em;margin:0.5em;border-left-width:3px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(221,221,221);display:block;color:rgb(54,54,54);line-height:12.666666984558105px">Source: <a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/03/28/194207/google-pledges-not-to-sue-any-open-source-projects-using-their-patents" target="_blank">http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/03/28/194207/google-pledges-not-to-sue-any-open-source-projects-using-their-patents</a></i></div>

<div>Google has a history of supporting OS software and litigating against hardware manufacturers.<br></div><div><br></div><div>My cynical side thinks maybe Google think it's cheaper to give them away (or get 'free' community development) than defend them & Google gets to partner or sue on commercial implementations.</div>

<div><br></div><div>Suggest: the 'care label' image looks like "the logo, but in a cage"!</div><div><br></div><div>Rob</div><div>--</div><div><a href="http://openpart.co.uk" target="_blank">openpart.co.uk</a></div>

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