Twitter’s New Patent Pledge: First, Do No Evil
“One of the great things about Twitter is working with so many talented folks who dream up and build incredible products day in and day out. Like many companies, we apply for patents on a bunch of these inventions,” Adam Messinger, vice president of engineering, wrote in a blog post. “However, we also think a lot about how those patents may be used in the future; we sometimes worry that they may be used to impede the innovation of others. For that reason, we are publishing a draft of the Innovator’s Patent Agreement, which we informally call the ‘IPA.’”
Under the IPA, inventors will maintain control over their patents and Twitter agrees not to use the patents to file offensive lawsuits designed to block technology development at other firms without permission of the inventor.
A great promise from Twitter that I hope holds up.