IBM is permitting free use of 500 of its patents by open source developers. The patents are available royalty-free to open source developers and cover 14 categories of technology, including e-commerce, storage, image processing, data handling networking, and Internet communications. Marc Ehrlich, IBM legal counsel for patent portfolio management, states that IBM wanted to provide access to a wide range of patents, and that the patents freed up representative areas that reflect activity in the open source community, including databases and processor cores. IBM will retain ownership of the 500 patents, but will permit no-fee use of the technologies in any software meeting the requirements of the Open Source Definition, which is managed and promoted by Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit organization. IBM has strongly supported Linux, and is optimistic that its action will create a patent commons on which open source software developers can base code without encountering legal considerations. IBM is aware that doing so will result in expansion of the technologies in ways that IBM might never develop itself. IBM might create new products or services for a fee atop open source applications that use its patented technologies, says an analyst. IBM is giving credibility to the open source movement, and the patent release gives IT departments more surety in use of open source products. IBM may extend the access to other patents in the future and hopes that other companies will do likewise.