I don’t say it often so I’ll say it again, shame on IBM. They filed a patent for a software system that ‘weighs moving into or out of a particular country against criteria such as wages, political systems, “incentive contracts” and the economic impact of “violating and/or satisfying those incentives.”‘
Not so much shame on them for thinking of such a thing, but shame on them for filing the patent TWICE in 17 months only to withdraw after it became publicized. They KNEW what they were doing was morally wrong, but did it anyway, and only retreated from their stance when outed about it to general condemnation from the public, media, and probably government.
Lesson learned? This’ll be slipped back in for another application in 7 or 8 months, probably when the economy un-sours. Either that, or someone else will patent it. Just another reason why software patents are utter bullshit.
Tags: bitch bitch bitch, lesson learned, trouble in paradise