Legal Issues with Open Source Software

The notion of patent pools is not a new idea and Open Invention Network’s mission is different than a traditional patent pool. Here OIN and Ant Financial discuss some of the legal issues with Open Source Software (OSS).

The first patent pools date back to 1856 with Sewing Machine Combination with Singer and Wheeler & Wilson. Typically, companies pay to join a patent pool and in return get risk mitigation, however they also have to pay royalties to access patents in the pool.

Open Invention Network, on the other hand, focuses on open source and protecting it from patent aggression. Every one of our members agree to our free cross-licensing patent agreement and therefore, don’t pay a royalty to license the relevant patents of other community members. Open Invention Network also owns its own patent portfolio which covers many key technologies. Our members also gain lifetime access to these patents.

The Open Invention Community is free to join. The companies that understand and accept that we are living in an open source world see value in joining our organization, sharing Linux System patents with other members, accessing others’ patents, gaining access to risk mitigation and the many other benefits that come with membership.

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