Techworld.com - Open-source software revolutionises patent system

Techworld.com - Open-source software revolutionises patent system: "The most dramatic part of the three-part initiative will establish open-source software as prior art. Prior art refers to existing inventions that can prevent a new patent from being awarded. OSDL, IBM, Novell, Red Hat and SourceForge.net are developing a searchable database of open source code so patent examiners and the general public can search for prior art from the open source community when considering a patent application. Such a storage system would satisfy legal requirements for the code to qualify as prior art, IBM said."