Sun just pre-announced their OpenID IP Non-Assertion Covenant, saying very clearly and strongly that they won't assert any patent claims against anybody implementing OpenID, as long as said person/company doesn't assert any patents against any other OpenID implementation (not just against Sun). And also said they don't necessarily have any relevant patent claims. etc, etc.
The official legalese (going up on their website soon) is actually very readable. Thanks, Sun!
Basically big company making public statement that OpenID is safe and preventing anybody from suing anybody.
Patent cold war == good thing (considering current patent situation).
