Open Invention Network (OIN)

Open Invention Network (OIN) is a non-profit association of companies that supports Linux as a key element of the open source solutions ecosystem.

History

2021: Joining the Yadro consortium

The consortium Open Invention Networking (OIN) invited the Russian developer and computer manufacturer Yadro to join the alliance. This was announced on August 27, 2021 by representatives of Yadro.

OIN includes market leaders including Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Sony, SUSE and Toyota. In total, at the end of August 2021, the community has more than 3,400 members, who own more than 2.6 million patents and applications.

OIN grants royalty-free licenses for the right to use patents on ON Linux ecosystems. At the same time, the organization guarantees judicial protection to its members in case of possible judicial claims related to patents for its own developments on the basis. open source Linux

"We have signed a license agreement with OIN that describes the terms of use of the royalty-free license. Membership is strategically important for us in terms of patents, development, marketing and in general the company's reputation, "said Anna Egorova, director of partner relations, alliances and Yadro service. - The main goal of joining the alliance is to avoid patent litigation. We will need to cross-license our own patents based on Linux/OSS functionality and not impose any requirements for the rights to these patents among other OIN members. In exchange, we get freedom from legal claims on our use of open-source code and unlimited access to royalty-free licenses for 1100 + patents and applications. "

2018: Microsoft joining the consortium

On October 10, 2018, Microsoft announced its accession to the Open Invention Network (OIN) consortium, which was created to protect Linux against   intellectual property prosecutions. The participation of the American corporation in this organization essentially means Microsoft's consent to provide all OIN participants with a free unlimited license for their entire patent portfolio, the publication notes. ZDNet

Before Microsoft joined the consortium, it included more than 2,650 members, and the number of patents and applications granted by them exceeded 1,300. OIN includes Google, IBM, Red Hat, SUSE and a number of other companies. Microsoft transferred about 60 thousand patents to the community.

Microsoft transferred 60 thousand of its patents to the Open Source community

Microsoft, commenting on the inclusion of OIN members, noted that developers  should not choose between Windows  and Linux, Java or .NET. They want cloud platforms to support all technologies,  and they're trying to implement it.

Having joined the OIN, Microsoft has pledged not to use its patents against Linux and open source software. The company also recognizes the joint development model as a key element for creating innovation. Microsoft's participation in OIN significantly reduces the risk of patent aggression against companies using and creating open products, and is an important signal to other industry representatives. 

We know that Microsoft's decision to join OIN for some may be a surprise. It's no secret that in the past there were disagreements between Microsoft and the open source software community over patents, "said Microsoft Corporate Vice President Erich Andersen, who is responsible for consulting on intellectual property issues at the corporation.[1]

For many years, Microsoft sued developers of open source technologies for Linux, Android, etc. The American software giant accused competitors of violating their patents.

However, with the growing popularity of Open Source projects, Microsoft has changed its attitude towards technologies that it once considered a serious threat to its business. As Microsoft devotes more and more resources to cloud infrastructure, the corporation is increasingly turning to open development, allowing developers to create their applications on Azure, Fortune notes.

According to the head of OIN Keith Bergelt, participating in the life of the consortium, Microsoft obviously recognizes the importance of open source software for its future growth.

Bergelt emphasized that Microsoft will share with the community "everything that it has," including all old (Android, Linux, OpenStack) and new (LF Energy and HyperLedger ) open technologies.

The Free Software Foundation  welcomed  Microsoft's steps towards rapprochement with the open source software community, but warned that the OIN agreement covers only a part of GNU/Linux applications, and parties to the agreement have the right to exit OIN at any time with 30 days' advance notice.

The fund recommended that Microsoft not stop there and publish a statement of termination of all patent claims related to the use of Linux in the Android platform, as well as contribute to the expansion of the "Linux system," for example, to include in this definition programs and libraries related to the processing of multimedia information, but ideally to ensure coverage of all packages from the main repository. Debian The ACT Foundation also mentioned the possibility of connecting Mirosoft to the activity of withdrawing ideas implemented in software from the field of patenting. 

2005: Founding of the consortium

The activities of the Open Invention Network community are aimed at protecting the Linux community and ensuring freedom in matters related to intellectual property. Open Invention Network (OIN) organized in 2005. and brings together thousands of software and hardware companies. Members of the community have open access to patents included in the OIN portfolio, support non-aggressive policies against other developers and facilitate the free exchange of development on Linux.

The goal of the organization is to create a patent base necessary to protect free software. Patents purchased or donated by it and applications are then granted to all partners of the organization on royalty-free terms - irrevocable and not associated with royalty license. Members of the community also support non-aggressive policies against other developers and facilitate the free exchange of development on Linux.

This approach is designed to significantly simplify the life of developers: they transfer the risks of damage from possible legal claims to the OIN itself, which guarantees them judicial protection. However, many OIN participants joined the initiative not because of fear of litigation, but wanting to share their own patents with other members of the Open Source community. In particular, Mozilla was guided by such motives in 2010. The web browser has long been an integral part of modern desktop operating systems, so Mozilla's intellectual property is strategically important for OIN.

OIN was founded in 2005 by Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Red Hat, Sony, SUSE and Toyota to combat patent trolling. Guarantees of the existence and development of Open Source-projects with the support of OIN make them more interesting for investors, equipment manufacturers and ordinary consumers. At the moment, OIN includes more than 2100 communities, companies and organizations. The OIN patent pool is more than 1,200 patents related to Linux. They cover the core of the system and many popular user applications (including Firefox, OpenOffice, X.org, Qt, OpenJDK, Git and QEMU).

However, even cooperation with OIN does not provide absolute guarantees, which is especially clearly seen in the examples of large corporations like Oracle IBM. An alternative to joining OIN is the signing of separate contracts with large patent holders. The "Non-Aggression Pact" on the Open Source-fronts Microsoft has already been concluded by NEC,, and LG Samsung others. Unfortunately, this method of protection is only available to large developers. In addition, practice shows that it will be necessary to conclude agreements with each software giant separately. In 2007, Oracle began to cooperate with OIN and formally agreed not to make complaints against the developers of the ACT, first of all. database management systems PostgreSQL The absurdity of the modern patenting system was shown by the recent situation with IBM obtaining a patent for out-of-office systems.

Premium car manufacturer Daimler (owner of the Mercedes-Benz trademark) in March 2017 decided to join the Open Invention Network (OIN)^[2]. Daimler is becoming an increasingly active supporter of Open Source. In January 2017, the company became another participant in the Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) initiative, created under the Linux Foundation to work on an open software platform for cars, which can become a de facto standard in the industry. Other participants in the AGL project include automakers such as Mazda, Suzuki, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, etc., as well as Panasonic, Intel, LG, ARM, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Pioneer, many NToshas IbData, Tuma-Tu developers.

Daimler is involved in the development of Unified Code Base (UCB), an AGL platform for connected cars. Last September, it moved a significant portion of its critical servers from proprietary UNIX operating systems to Linux.

Notes