From ZDNet:
If the protocols do become standards, either by virtue of an independent standards organization's imprimatur or by attaining a de facto status, IBM and Microsoft--or any other company that maintains the intellectual property rights to them--could legally impose royalties on that traffic. In fact, any protocols that become a part of the core Internet infrastructure without having been made available on a royalty-free basis could guarantee the owners of the intellectual property the right to place a tax on the Internet traffic that depends on those protocols.Countless patents could have been issued for the core protocols that make up the net. But they weren't, and the net experienced the "network effects" of exponential growth. For all of their chest-beating in favor of Linux, Love and Open Source, I sincerely hope that IBM is doing this as a defensive measure, not as an offensive play. Microsoft? It's pretty clear that they like the idea of collecting tolls.
(Thanks to djberg for the link.)
