A comment from a LinuxDevices.com reader . . .

At the Linux Forum 2002, Dr. Karl-Heinz Strassemeyer from IBM in Böblingen, Germany, gave an interview to Ole Tange, SSLUG (a Scandinavian Linux users group), on how IBM deals with software patents when . . . developing [with] Linux. In the Open Source community, Dr. Karl-Heinz Strassemeyer is probably best known as the man who was responsible for the S/390 patch for the Linux kernel.

Dr. Karl-Heinz Strassemeyer said . . .

• IBM does not ship Open Source software with patents.
  
• IBM only submits patches to the Linux kernel after they are cleared for any patents.
  
• IBM does not do distributions because the risk of infringing a patent that way is too high.
  
• IBM does not use Linux in embedded systems because the kernel could contain hidden patents.

The interview was published with live streaming on Internet and can be found in the archive on sslug.mmmanager.org. The interview is 11 minutes long. Ogg-file and video with the interview can be found here.

 
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