Cloud Computing Is Forcing a Reconsideration of Intellectual Property

Clouds, wirelessly connected to more software in just about everything, make it possible to shift, remix and borrow from once separate industrial categories.

Everything, be it software and networking or power, is different when so many computers are spread across the globe. The pace of innovation is so quick, and the number of players so small, that in some cases, the players elect not to patent inventions, wary of what they’d disclose about themselves in the application. A number of other big players are still trying to come at the proprietary hold of these giants, and to do it, they’re using open-source software, a license-free method of creating a product, fast, by distributing the work as widely as possible.