Leave a Comment

Linux Defenders: Go-Betweens to Police Patent Trolls [OStatic]
GigaOM Network — ... Open Invention Network along with a series of powerful partners ranging from IBM to the Software Freedom Law Center to the Linux Foundation ...

Linux Defenders: Go-Betweens to Police Patent Trolls
OStatic blogs — ... Open Invention Network along with a series of powerful partners ranging from IBM to the Software Freedom Law Center to the Linux Foundation ...

Open-Source Companies Band Together To Fend Off Patent Trolls (IBM)
Silicon Alley Insider — ... And who pays for the services? The Open Innovation Network: a consortium of companies with a business interest (consulting fees, resales, etc) in seeing open-source technologies flourish. IBM (IBM), Novell (NOVL), and Red Hat (RHT) are all members. ...

File your open source code with Linux Defenders
Open Source — ... Linux Defenders is the creation of the Open Innovation Network, a group that includes Red Hat, IBM, Novell and others interested in protecting open source rights. ...

Linux patent program finances "defensive publications"
Linux-Watch.com — ... director of the Linux Foundation. "The open source community is getting an IP rights tool that will limit distractions created from organizations that like to play the FUD game." Stated Keith Bergelt, CEO of OIN, "This landmark program will benefit open source innovation by significantly reducing the number of poor quality patents that might otherwise be used by patent trolls or strategics." More information on Linux Defenders may be found here . OIN's site may be found here . Related Stories:

IP for sale: Is open source buying?
The Open Road — ... Tribune suggests that increasing volumes of intellectual property are now being sold at to shore up balance sheets. So who in the open-source world is buying? I ask because it's almost certain that someone is going to purchase the IP, and it's likely to be a Microsoft or Oracle (or, possibly worse, Intellectual Ventures), to the extent the IP is worth anything. Instead, now would be a good time for open-source patent-pooling collectives like Open Invention Network to buy up these assets and use them to protect open source. Red Hat, ...

Four short links: 26 Feb 2009
O'Reilly Radar - Insight, analysis, and research about emerging technologies. — ... -- Microsoft patented elements of the FAT filesystem, including the system for representing long filenames on systems that only handle 8.3 filenames like CRAPWARE.EXE. This filesystem is used in pretty much every digital camera and Flash filesystem device, and the TomTom system in question. This Ars Digita article raises the interesting possibility that the Open Invention Network could respond by flexing its patent portfolio muscles and make it clear that nobody wants a battle over patents (except lawyers who are paid by the hour). ...

Microsoft Sues TomTom Over Linux Patents, No Biggie
Wired: Epicenter — ... Plan for the Worst. The Linux Foundation is working closely with our partner the Open Invention Network, and our members, and is well prepared for any claims against Linux. We have great confidence in the foundation they have laid. Unfortunately, claims like these are a by-product of our business and legal system today. For now, we are closely watching the situation and will remain ready to mount a Linux's defense, should the need arise. ...

Bang the TomTom slowly
Open Source — ... The fear, which I admit I’m catching in the penumbra of comments from Bruce Perens and Keith Bergelt of the Open Invention Network, is that this may be a negotiating ploy aimed at getting TomTom to do a patent cross-license, which would include Microsoft’s Linux claims. ...

OIN: Microsoft lawsuit won't slow Linux's lead in mobile market
Open Source — ... Open Invention Network CEO Keith Bergelt doesn’t buy Microsoft’s contention that the lawsuit, filed last week, is not targeting Linux. ...

TomTom tells Ballmer tear down this wall
Open Source — By joining the Open Invention Network TomTom made its most important statement yet that it won’t get pushed around in its patent litigation with Microsoft. OIN members include important players like IBM, Philips and Sony. On the other hand they also include Novell, whose original patent cross-license with Microsoft drives the controversy over Big Greens claims to own the Linux operating system. By joining OIN TomTom lays claim to over 275 important patents and patent applications, at the cost of ...

TomTom gets allies in Microsoft Linux patent lawsuit fight
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols's blog — ... , TomTom didn't have anything like Microsoft's financial resources to fight them with. But, while TomTom may be out-gunned by Microsoft, the OIN ( Open Invention Network ) isn't. TomTom joined OIN on March 23. The OIN is an intellectual property company that was formed to promote Linux by using patents to create a collaborative ecosystem. Its members include IBM, Novell, Sony, and Red Hat. One of OIN's initiatives is ...

Linux foundation chew the FAT.
UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping — linux-foundation Recently, it may have come to your attention that Microsoft and TomTom, the Sat Nav maker, have reached a settlement over a patent dispute. The dispute revolves around the FAT file system, and it’s use in the TomTom’s Linux based OS. Microsoft said that the use of this file system infringed their patent, and so to court. In a smart move by TomTom, they joined  the OIN (Open Invention Network), which is a group of companies, big and small that share their patents, thus increasing their portfolio in the event of a lawsuit. The trade off being that patents you ...

Microsoft's TomTom patents posted for patent review
Linux-Watch.com — ... NOTE: Please post your comments regarding our articles using the above link. Be sure to use this article's title as the "Subject" in your posts. Before you create a new thread, please check to see if a discussion thread is already running on the article you plan to comment on. Thanks! Related Stories: (Click here for further information)

Open Invention Network Snags Microsoft Patents
InformationWeek - All Stories And Blogs — ... The title says it all: the Open Invention Network, an open source coalition "formed to promote Linux by using patents to create a collaborative environment", has grabbed up a few of Microsoft's patents. ...

Linux group buys up 22 patents
ZDNet Government — ... Tags: The Open Invention Network - an IP company created to protect Linux from patent lawsuits - has purchased 22 patents formerly owned by Microsoft and which appear to impact Linux, ...

OIN disposal squad takes out 22 patent land mines
Open Source — ... The Open Invention Network has taken out 22 more patent land mines, buying them from an outfit called Allied Security Trust which in turn had bought them from Microsoft. ...

If Microsoft really wants to be friends with Linux...
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols's blog — ... , executive director of the Linux Foundation, "The details are that Microsoft assembled a package of patents 'relating to open source' and put them up for sale to patent trolls. Microsoft thought they were selling them to AST, a group that buys patents, offers licenses to its members, and then resells the patents." What actually happened was that Microsoft ended up selling the patents to the Open Invention Network , a pro-Linux intellectual-property organization. The irony is that Microsoft is having serious ...

OIN suggests patent reform on the fly
Open Source — Open Innovation Network (OIN) CEO Keith Bergelt enjoyed my recent analogy of his work to that of a bomb disposal team. He also liked Paula’s story. But his motive for talking was to push the story forward, and to say that the Obama Administration is going to give us patent reform on-the-fly. He said we can be a part of it. Yes, we can, because the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property is David Kappos. Besides having a nice hair line (so much like my own) Kappos “gets ...