Microsoft joins the Open Invention Network
The software giant wades into the fight to protect Linux and open source from patent abuse.
ThreaTs of paTenT-relaTed liTigaTion have been a growing problem for linux developers
Microsoft’s overtures to the open source community continue with the company joining the Open Invention Network (OIN, www.openinventionnetwork.com), a community of over 900 participants that’s dedicated to patent non-aggression, specifically when it comes to Linux and open source. OIN is a not-for-profit collaborative enterprise
(See WoE LXF187) that’s focused on protecting Linux developers, distributors and users from patent trolls, funded by members such as Google, IBM, Sony, SUSE and now Microsoft. This is a welcome move by Microsoft, and not only continues its embrace of open source (where once the company was considered quite antagonistic), but is also in keeping with Microsoft’s fight against patent trolls, following its creation of the Azure IP Advantage programme (http://bit.ly/LXFAzureIP), which was set up to offer similar protections as the OIN to Azure developers against patent claims. Just before Microsoft joined OIN in October, it also became part of the LOT Network (https://lotnet.com), another community that aims to, as its website claims, “eliminate the patent troll threat.”
Patent-related litigation have been a growing problem for Linux developers, with companies using patents to stall the growth of the operating system. OIN CEO Keith Bergelt has spoken about how these threats have now evolved to include products that incorporate, or are based on, Linux code. These have been put in place by proprietary software companies that are reliant on income from licencing patents.
While Microsoft’s joining of OIN was described by Keith as a “nice validation” of the open source movement, it’s already starting to generate positive ramifications within the FOSS community.
When joining, Microsoft has made 60,000 of its patents open source, with Erich Andersen, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, deputy general counsel, saying that, “We bring a valuable and deep portfolio of over 60,000 issued patents to OIN. We also hope that our decision to join will attract many other companies to OIN, making the licence network even stronger for the benefit of the open source community.”
One of the earliest examples of the benefits of Microsoft joining OIN is that Fedora can now enable full subpixel rendering in FreeType. Sure, it might not be the most exciting of examples, but it shows how the move away from patent disputes can bring big improvements to our favourite projects.
To read Microsoft’s announcement regarding its joining of OIN in more detail, head over to http://bit.ly/LXFMSOIN.