IBM drops patent application for outsourcing offshore jobs

The same day the Times Herald-Record reported IBM had applied to patent a computerized system to help businesses outsource offshore jobs while maximizing government tax breaks, Big Blue did an about-face.

The application "was filed in error and will be withdrawn," IBM spokesman Steve Malkiewicz said Monday.

IBM's filing with the U.S. patent office describes a "method and system for strategic global resource sourcing," weighing such goals as "50 percent of resources in China by 2010" against such factors as labor costs, infrastructure and the "minimum head count to qualify for incentives."

Some 17 months ago, IBM abruptly withdrew a similar application immediately after it was made public.

"A method for identifying human-resource work content to outsource offshore of an organization," was submitted for a patent in January 2006.