The European Union is currently debating legislation that could have a profound affect both at home and abroad: whether to legalize the use of software patents. In recent years, software companies have filed tens of thousands of these patents in Europe, in spite of the fact that they may be illegal and impossible to enforce.

As I've mentioned here previously, pending EU legislation would legalize software patents once and for all. Given the chance, companies will rush to file many thousands of new software patents and aggressively enforce existing ones. Not surprisingly, mega-corporations such as IBM and Microsoft already hold a huge number of European software patents, and they're chomping at the bit to lead any future intellectual property land-grabs.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the corporate trough: European legislators, open-source developers, small-business owners, and even ordinary citizens are organizing to kill the patent measure. Some opposition leaders have already discussed the impact an IBM "patent tax" would have on European technology firms, especially open-source software companies; others are asking why Europe should tailor its intellectual property laws to suit wannabe monopolists like Microsoft.

Today, however, IBM added an interesting twist to this story. The company says it will provide free and open access to 500 key open-source software patents; the deal applies to any company, person or organization using open-source software.

There's more than one facet to this story. IBM has cultivated a broad, far-reaching, and very sincere partnership with the Linux and open-source community in recent years. In fact, minus its money-pit PC manufacturing operation, Big Blue is likely to stake its very future on the growth of Linux in the enterprise. IBM's announcement could also be the first step in bringing Linux and open-source software under its protective patent umbrella, making Microsoft think twice before launching any long-rumored lawsuits against an OSS organization or Linux vendor.

Yet IBM has also benefited immensely from U.S. patent law, probably to the tune of many billions of dollars. The company would dearly like to see Europe grant it a similar license to print money, yet its efforts to re-start the stalled EU patent legislation have been curiously tepid so far.

Could this finally be the opening salvo of a European charm offensive intended to make software patents look like a Linux developer's best friends? We'll soon find out, but I'm betting that's the case.

Have a good week.

Matthew McKenzie
Editor, Linux Pipeline
mattcmp@sonic.net
www.LinuxPipeline.com

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