Xiaomi, one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones, smart devices and IoT platforms, has become a member of the Open Invention Network (OIN), which is dedicated to protecting the Linux ecosystem from patent claims. By joining the OIN, the company has demonstrated its commitment to co-innovation and the non-aggressive disposal of patents. It is noted that Linux and open technologies are a key part of Xiaomi products and the company intends to continue developing and integrating open source software into its products, as well as participate in the development of Linux and various open projects.
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. OIN members include more than 3500 companies, communities and organizations that have signed a patent-sharing license agreement. Among the main participants in the OIN, which ensure the formation of a patent pool protecting Linux, are companies such as Google, IBM, NEC, Toyota, Renault, SUSE, Philips, Red Hat, Alibaba, HP, AT&T, Juniper, Facebook, Cisco, Casio, Huawei, 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. In particular, as part of joining the OIN, Microsoft transferred the right to use more than 60 of its patents to OIN participants, 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 (βLinux Systemβ). The list currently includes 3393 packages, including Linux kernel, Android platform, KVM, Git, nginx, Apache Hadoop, CMake, PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, Lua, LLVM, OpenJDK, WebKit, KDE, GNOME, QEMU, Firefox, LibreOffice, Qt, systemd, X.Org, Wayland, PostgreSQL, MySQL, 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, which featured some of the first mentions of technologies for creating dynamic web content, which anticipated the emergence of such systems as Microsoft's ASP, Sun/Oracle's JSP and PHP. Another significant contribution is the acquisition in 2009 of 22 Microsoft patents that had previously been sold to the AST consortium as patents covering "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, which demanded that the interests of OIN be taken into account in the terms of the deal to sell the Novell patents.
Source: opennet.ru