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Friday, November 11, 2005

Patent Pool for Defending Linux.

Mr. Eric Auchard writes:

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Three of the world's biggest electronics companies -- IBM, Sony and Philips -- have joined forces with the two largest Linux software distributors to create a company for sharing Linux patents, royalty-free.

The Open Invention Network (OIN), as the new firm unveiled on Thursday is known, could mark a breakthrough in resolving how to protect vendors and customers from patent royalty disputes resulting from freely shared Linux code. [...]"

This is surely a far better idea than any attempts to ban patents on computer-implemented inventions as demanded by

FFII and others. Such move is, of course, not greeted by the various anti-patent fundamentalists who would prefer imposing restrictions on the patent system.

Proposals for such a move are around since years but it is worth noting that in fact not any grassroots initiative has managed to actually set up such a patent pool for defending FROSS but a conglomerate of Linux-aware companies.

The new IP Company, Open Invention Network (OIN), has a

website.

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