Re: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux

Richard Stallman (rms@gnu.org)
Sat, 26 Dec 1998 14:09:18 -0500

Well, then. Maybe what the world needs is a new kind of patent. Maybe
there should be something like a GNU Prior Art Registry where a technique
can be registered (for a fee which is used to maintain the registry) and
is freely redistributable in Free code but would require a royalty for
non-GPL use. This protects the inventor from exploitation yet allows
one to share an idea with the community and also prevents something from
being patented by someone else. It would provide a standard method of
registration that should be able to hold up in court if someone tries to
patent the concept later.

I can imagine three ways this could be done.

* Any patent holders can do this voluntarily. We may as well ask them
to.

* Patent holders might be encouraged to join a patent pool which makes
this one condition of membership. Some people are talking about this
idea now; if it gets off the ground, there will be an announcement.

* There could be a change in patent law which either requires this, or
makes patents easier to get if they allow this than if they do not.
Of course, convincing governments to make this change would not be
easy.

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