Few days ago the Open Invention Network unveiled through a blog post that the company Shopify, which develops one of the largest e-commerce platforms for the organization of payments and sales both in conventional stores and online, has joined as one of the participants in the organization of the Open Invention the Network (OIN), is the Linux ecosystem protected by the patent claims.
It should be noted that the platform Shopify uses the Ruby on Rails framework and the company sees open source software as the key core of its business. By joining the OIN, the company intends to show its commitment to innovation and help protect against the patent assault that plagues Linux-based systems.
“The Shopify platform provides not only the tools to build an online store, but also a full suite of business solutions, including processing payments through Shopify Payments and loans through Shopify Capital, among others. Ecommerce platforms, fintech and financial services companies should take note of the growth and leadership of Shopify, which has built on open source software since its launch, ”said Keith Bergelt, CEO of Open Invention Network. . "We appreciate Shopify's participation in joining OIN and demonstrating its commitment to innovation and non-aggression of patents on the Linux system."
“At Shopify, we have built our platform on Ruby on Rails. We see open source software as a key foundation for our business, ”said Robert Guay, Senior Intellectual Property Counsel at Shopify. “By joining the Open Invention Network, we have committed to patenting non-aggression in the Linux kernel and adjacent open source software. We believe this commitment will promote innovation and help entrepreneurs and developers build on open source foundations without focusing on the threat of litigation. We strongly encourage all forward-thinking e-commerce platforms, retailers, and other companies to do the same. "
OIN members agree not to file patent claims and they are free to authorize the use of proprietary technologies in projects related to the Linux ecosystem. OIN members include more than 3.300 businesses, communities, and organizations who have signed license agreements to share patents.
Among the main participants of OIN, providing the formation of a group of patents that protects Linux, 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.
The signatory companies obtain access to the patents held by the OIN in exchange for the obligation not to sue for the use of technologies used in the Linux ecosystem. Among other things, as part of joining the OIN, Microsoft transferred to OIN participants the right to use more than 60 of its patents, pledging not to use them against Linux and open source software.
The agreement between OIN members applies only to components of distributions that fall under the definition of a Linux system ("Linux System").
In addition to non-aggression obligations, for additional protection within the OIN, a patent pool has been formed, which includes patents bought or donated by Linux-related participants.
OIN's patent group includes more than 1300 patents, including OIN Hands is a group of patents, involving one of the first reference technologies that create dynamic web content that anticipated occurrence systems such as Microsoft's ASP, Sun / Oracle's JSP, and PHP.
Another significant contribution is the acquisition in 2009 of 22 Microsoft patents, which were previously sold to the AST consortium as patents affecting "open source" products. All OIN members are free to use these patents.
Source: https://openinventionnetwork.com