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From en.swpat.org

Patent promises from friendly companies can be good sources of wordings. Patent promises from opponents are usually written to be meaningless. Sometimes they're just for image.

[edit] Company patent promises

Note: these are not examples of good promises, it's just a list which might be informative or which might help explain the issues involved.

• 2005-01-10: IBM's 500-patent promise (news coverage: CNet)
• Red Hat's (see also: Red Hat)
• Blackboard's (see also: Blackboard inc.)
• Google's (see also: Google)
  • Google also made a promise regarding WebM (see: Patent clauses in software licences#WebM licence)
• Sun's OpenDocument statement (see also: Sun Microsystems)
• Microsoft Open Specification Promise
• Nokia's - only the Linux kernel, only "official versions" (whatever they are), and Nokia reserves the right to cancel the promise for any future versions. (see also: Nokia)

[edit] Related pages on en.swpat.org

• Patent clauses in software licences
• free software - not strictly related, but many of these promises are limited to free software
• Patent non-aggression pacts
• Defensive patent pools
• Defensive Patent License
• Equitable defences: estoppel and laches - a "promise" can be legally weak, leaving you with no more than an equity defence
• Non-aggression promise to employees

[edit] External links

• Nokia's patent announcement next to nothing, May 30^th 2005 - discussion of IBM, Sun, and Nokia, by Richard Stallman
• Linux Foundation's "Patent Commons" collection of promises
• Comparison of software licence clauses and promises, (audio) by Bradley Kuhn
• Covenant not to sue [in German law], 6 Oct 2010, EPLAW patent blog