Is IBM threatening coin fungibility? e-Currency Validation

[Patel]

Did anyone read this article on LetsTalkBitcoin?

http://letstalkbitcoin.com/ibm-building-e-currency-platform/#.UrIzI7QQYqK

We need to keep bitcoin fungible.

[adalov]

I wouldn't be too concerned just yet. IBM has a gigantic team of lawyers and an entire system set up to push out as many patents as possible. They try to make it as painless as possible to get one, all an employee has to do is submit a one page document and bam, it goes through the layers of processes and 3 months later gets submitted and the employee gets a bonus. They pride themselves on having more patents than any other company every year.

That's not to say they aren't investigating this type of thing, but be aware that they push heavily for everyone to patent anything and everything if you have an idea in the shower.

[d2dtk]

I swear IBM can steal your dreams and even your shower thoughts!! I've seen them come out with projects that I've imagined years before.

[ceyre]

I think it's great that a power computing INDUSTRY would try to break e-currencies.
If they can do it, then it shows the vulnerabilities.  Shifts the goalposts.

I like it.

[tvbcof]

I'm not an expert, but it does seem to me that throwing some shit up on github, even if it doesn't do much, can demonstrate enough 'prior art' to make it not worth the time and money for a corporate entities to pursue.  Even if they might win in court eventually it would probably be cheaper to either pay a person off or choose a different line of development.

This IP stuff is getting amazingly obscene, wasteful, and debilitating.  I hope to live to see the day when there is a tsunami of a backlash against the abuse.