ELEMENTARY MY DEAR…
ELEMENTARY MY DEAR…

Joe Casad, Editor in Chief
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
-
Linux Kernel Reducing Long-Term Support
LTS support for the Linux kernel is about to undergo some serious changes that will have a considerable impact on the future.
-
Fedora 39 Beta is Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.
-
UbuntuDDE 23.04 Now Available
A new version of the UbuntuDDE remix has finally arrived with all the updates from the Deepin desktop and everything that comes with the Ubuntu 23.04 base.
-
Star Labs Reveals a New Surface-Like Linux Tablet
If you've ever wanted a tablet that rivals the MS Surface, you're in luck as Star Labs has created such a device.