The Open Invention Network (OIN), which aims to protect the Linux ecosystem from patent claims, about expanding the list of packages covered by the agreement on non-promotion of patent claims and providing the possibility of free use of certain patented technologies.
The list of distribution components that fall under the definition of a Linux system (βLinux Systemβ), which is covered by the agreement between OIN participants, has been expanded to . Of the new packages included in the list, the exFAT driver, KDE Frameworks, Hyperledger, Apache Hadoop, Robot OS are noted (), Apache Avro, Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), Eclipse Paho, and Mosquito. In addition, listed Android platform components now include an Android 10 release in a state that matches the public repository (Android Open Source Project).
In summary, the definition of a Linux system covers , including Linux kernel, Android platform, KVM, Git, nginx, CMake, PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, Lua, LLVM, OpenJDK, WebKit, KDE, GNOME, QEMU, Firefox, LibreOffice, Qt, systemd, X. Org, Wayland, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc. The number of OIN members that have signed a patent-sharing license agreement has surpassed 3300 companies, communities and organizations.
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. 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, Huawei, Fujitsu , Sony and Microsoft. For example, Microsoft joined the OIN do not use more than 60 thousand of their patents against Linux and open source software.
The OIN patent pool includes over 1300 patents. Including in the hands of OIN 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 in 2009, 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, consider the interests of the OIN in the terms of the deal to sell the Novell patents.
Source: opennet.ru