Open Invention Network (OIN), an organization dedicated to protecting the ecosystem Linux from patent claims on the formation together with IBM, Linux Foundation and Microsoft groups to defend open source software from attacks by asset-less patent trolls who survive solely by filing lawsuits using dubious patents. The group will support the organization. in the field of searching for facts of earlier use or invalidation of patents involved in proceedings affecting Linux and open source software.
On Organization Unified Patents in 2018, 49 cases were initiated by patent trolls, the defendants in which are related to the development of open source software. In total, since 2012, 260 such court cases have been recorded. An example of attacks by patent trolls on open source software is the recent with the GNOME Foundation.
Unified Patents is a group of more than 200 companies that are working together to fight patent trolls and complicate litigation involving patent trolls by making their attacks too costly due to legal costs. Unified Patents does not aim to win the case, but makes it clear to the trolls that they will fight and lag behind the interests of their participants. As a result, litigation with a member of Unified Patents may be more expensive for the troll than the royalties that the troll intends to receive (for example, a successful confrontation can last up to 6 months and threaten legal costs of up to $ 2 million). One recent example is in October, a process in which Lyft's lawsuit was dismissed and the troll incurred heavy costs.
The confrontation with patent trolls is complicated by the fact that the troll owns only intellectual property, but does not conduct development and production activities, therefore it is impossible to bring a counterclaim against him related to violation of the terms of use of patents in any products, and it remains only to try to prove the inconsistency of the patent used in patent claim.
Thanks to the OIN initiative, IBM, Linux Foundation and Microsoft have now created the "Open Source Zone" group within Unified Patents, which will study patents and combat patent troll activity in areas related to open source software. To incentivize patent analysis, Unified Patents has a bounty program for discovering prior use of patented technologies. The bounty can reach up to $10 (for discovering prior use of a patent involved in the GNOME case). at $2500).
Source: opennet.ru
