While IBM's move could help users get new open source products faster by removing development roadblocks, open source advocates and patent watchers ultimately would like to see companies such as IBM change their overall software patenting strategies. At the centre of the issue is current US patent practice, which grants what critics say are overly broad patents on trivial or abstract processes. The quagmire of patents that developers have to weed through to avoid infringement is unmanageable, and the result for corporate users is slower product innovation and delays in standards progress.

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