IBM HERALDS "NEW ERA" OF PATENT-SHARING: IBM has been busy ratcheting up it's PR with respect to last January's "giveaway" of 500 patents. Now, none of these patents were identified as particularly earth-shattering, but it does represent a significant step in companies such as IBM making strategic choices in determining which patents may provide a greater benefit by being effectively donated to the general public. This move is seen as a larger part in a huge experiment in the business world in figuring out what parts of intellectual property should be open and/or closed.