Absolutely. And they have already been doing this for some time.
I think they should also step it up and use their massive patent portfolio (probably the largest in the world) to go after anybody who tries to sue any other company using software patents. In this sense IBM has been a benevolent dictator, only going after companies that tried to sue IBM.
To their credit, IBM realized a long time ago that suing every other company in the computer business was bad for the industry as a whole which meant it was bad for them too. So they did the right thing by sitting on their patent portfolio and using it only as a deterrent in the spirit of M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction).
I think they should get more aggresive and expose the ludicrous falacy that is software patents and how they do more to hinder innovation than they do to reward or encourage it.
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