Re: Register allocation patent

stevec@pact.srf.ac.uk (Stephen Clarke) writes:
|> What is the status of IBM's patent on register allocation and spilling
|> via graph coloring? Most people seem to reference Chaitin's work when
|> describing their register allocators, including numerous commercial
|> companies; is the patent unenforceable?
|>


No, the patent is in full force. The state of intellectual property in the
computer world is that almost all of the major companies have signed
cross-license agreements with one another, allowing each to use the other's
patented intellectual property. If a company markets a compiler that
uses Chaitin's technique, and that company does not have an agreement with
IBM to use the technique, this is a violation of U.S. patent law.


Incidentally, thanks to Preston Briggs, Rice University owns a dependent
patent covering Briggs's optimistic coloring heuristics (modifications to the
Chaitin technique). A company using his extensions needs to have an agreement
in place with Rice.


I know all this because I accidentally ran across the Rice patent a year ago,
and had to spend some time with IP attorneys determining whether we had the
appropriate agreement with Rice. (We did; the optimistic coloring work was
done partially with funding support from IBM.)


--
William Schmidt (507) 253-0852 t/l 553-0852
GZA/030-2 wills@rchland.ibm.com (internal)
IBM Rochester wjs@vnet.ibm.com (external)
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