Initiative to Protect Linux from Patent Claims Passes 3000 Members

The Organization Open Invention Network (OIN), dedicated to protecting the Linux ecosystem from patent claims, announced about overcoming the milestone of 3000 participants. Over the past two years, the number of OIN members has increased by 50%. For example, since the beginning of this year alone, 350 new companies, communities and organizations have joined the OIN by signing a patent-sharing license agreement. Members of the OIN undertake not to make patent claims and freely allow the use of patented technologies in projects related to the Linux ecosystem.

Among the main OIN participants that ensure the formation of a patent pool that protects Linux are companies such as Google, IBM, NEC, Toyota, Renault, SUSE, Philips, Red Hat, Alibaba, HP, AT&T, Juniper, Facebook, Cisco, Casio, Fujitsu, Sony and Microsoft. Companies that sign the agreement gain access to patents held by OIN in exchange for a commitment not to sue for the use of technologies used in the Linux ecosystem. Including as part of joining the OIN, Microsoft Transmitted OIN members the right to use more than 60 thousand of their patents, pledging not to use them against Linux and open source software.

The agreement between OIN members applies only to components of distributions that fall under the definition of a Linux system (“Linux System”). The list currently includes 2873 packages, including Linux kernel, Android platform, KVM, Git, nginx, CMake, PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, Lua, OpenJDK, WebKit, KDE, GNOME, QEMU, Firefox, LibreOffice, Qt , systemd, X.Org, Wayland, etc. In addition to non-aggression obligations, for additional protection, the OIN has formed a patent pool, which includes patents purchased or donated by participants related to Linux.

The OIN patent pool includes over 1300 patents. Including in the hands of OIN is a group of patents that featured some of the earliest references to dynamic web content technologies that presaged such systems as Microsoft's ASP, Sun/Oracle's JSP, and PHP. Another significant contribution is the acquisition in 2009, 22 Microsoft patents, which were previously sold to the AST consortium, as patents affecting "open source" products. All OIN members have the opportunity to use these patents free of charge. The effectiveness of the OIN agreement was confirmed by the decision of the US Department of Justice, demanding consider the interests of the OIN in the terms of the deal to sell the Novell patents.

Source: opennet.ru