Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

[Posted March 9, 2012 by corbet]

Simon Phipps comments on the expansion of the Open Innovation Network's patent protection umbrella. "Too bad there's a sinister underbelly to this good news: what's omitted. Most notably, Android -- which is based on the Linux kernel -- is missing from the list altogether, along with its Dalvik language interpreter. Moreover, the definition is now so broad that two of the founders, Sony and Phillips, are concerned their products will be affected and have effectively reserved the right to sue the Linux community."

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 9, 2012 15:33 UTC (Fri) by mjw (subscriber, #16740) [Link] (5 responses)

Although Simon is correct to point out the shortcomings of OIN I do think he is overstating the negative in that quote.

Almost everything included in Android is on the system components list (e.g. android-base, android-build, android-sdk, astl, bionic, gerrit, gwtjsonrpc, libhardware, lk, mtpd, ril, etc.) So basically everything except indeed Dalvik and its core class library, which is a pity indeed, but there are other free software interpreters out there plus other implementations of the core libraries (at least two of which are on the list).

And the carve out used to be for all companies in the old agreement, now it is just confined to Phillips and Sony (though they did expand it a little). All other OIN members are covering each other for those same technologies. And all other OIN members exclude Phillips and Sony for those technologies. So all of them cannot attack each other, but they can all attack Sony and Phillips.

Sure OIN isn't perfect (it cannot protect against those who don't join). But the range of system components and the number of entities that now have an anti-patent pact around them has increased a lot.

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 9, 2012 17:23 UTC (Fri) by shmerl (guest, #65921) [Link] (1 responses)

> it cannot protect against those who don't join
Why, it's intended to precisely protect against those who don't join, by allowing using the collective pool for defense against them. Naturally of course it also helps to avoid threats from those who join since they are bound by the agreement. It only doesn't help against pure patent trolls which have nothing to loose (except their patents).

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 10, 2012 20:47 UTC (Sat) by mjw (subscriber, #16740) [Link]

The standard OIN agreement is about grants to/from OIN and between licensees to not sue over any patent claims reading on the the system components. It would be interesting if the grants got expanded so anybody could use the patents to defend against non-members, but as far as I understand that currently isn't the case. And as you say it still wouldn't help against trolls.

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 13, 2012 6:33 UTC (Tue) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link] (2 responses)

"Sure OIN isn't perfect (it cannot protect against those who don't join). But the range of system components and the number of entities that now have an anti-patent pact around them has increased a lot."

That it can't protect those who don't join is not a problem. I see the imperfectness more in the design of limiting the protection to some ancient versions of an exclusive list of packages. (Last time I checked it was essentially RHEL 5 that is protected, maybe they updated to RHEL 6 now.) So basically it is not about protecting FOSS, or even what I would personally consider "Linux" but a specific product those companies are doing business with. FOSS in general, such as any new and interesting open source projects are without protection. That is what would really be needed. The EFF was working on some general "copyleft for patents" scheme. But I never heard that anything came out of that.

For some reason OIN didn't bother to protect even MySQL and PostgreSQL, which happens to be the space where I personally work. One can only imagine that Oracle and IBM are the ones who were reluctant to protect databases.

But adding OpenJDK is surely a huge win. Limited protection is of course better than no protection at all. But when one OIN member (Oracle) continues to sue the most popular Linux distribution out there (Android) I think OIN can't really celebrate yet.

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 13, 2012 11:52 UTC (Tue) by mjw (subscriber, #16740) [Link] (1 responses)

Yeah, it does seem that the system component list mirrors RHEL6ish and/or other "enterprise" distros now (plus a lot of android, except dalvik, so they are expanding it seems - except for Philips and Sony - sigh).

MySQL and Postgresql are on the system component list also now (number 1024 and 1264): http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/pat_linuxdef_table3.php

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 14, 2012 22:36 UTC (Wed) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link]

MySQL and PostgreSQL have always been there, but the description said "client programs and libraries" which might be interpreted like the actual servers were not protected. The descriptions in the current list are so nonsensical that they cannot be interpreted to mean anything, which I suppose is an improvement :-)

I wrote a blog about my efforts trying to understand the status of MySQL and PostgreSQL coverage: http://openlife.cc/blogs/2012/march/so-how-does-oin-help-mysql-really

Anyway, assuming now that MySQL and PostgreSQL really are covered, that is great news for someone like me who is active in the MySQL forks community.

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 9, 2012 18:42 UTC (Fri) by bjd (guest, #82059) [Link] (4 responses)

Phillips - as in the screwdriver?

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 9, 2012 20:20 UTC (Fri) by armijn (subscriber, #3653) [Link] (3 responses)

No, Philips (with one 'l') as in Royal Philips Electronics

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 11, 2012 10:20 UTC (Sun) by Lennie (subscriber, #49641) [Link] (1 responses)

Still haven't figured out what Royal Philips Electronics does with virtualisation.

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 11, 2012 23:51 UTC (Sun) by AngryChris (guest, #74783) [Link]

They're doing virtualization in the healthcare market.

Philips IntelliSpace Event Management solution offers enhanced platform for critical patient alerts

Second paragraph:

The Philips IntelliSpace Event Management solution received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2011. It adds a configurable historical database that further enhances the care teams’ ability to access information that can improve workflow and increase efficiencies. The introduction of virtualization capabilities also enables the solution to be more effectively integrated into hospital IT infrastructure, to improve system manageability and optimization.

I don't know what technology they're using, but since automation in healthcare is considered such a moneymaker, I can understand why they'd be concerned with infringement of their patents.

Linux gets a bigger shield against patent attacks (InfoWorld)

Posted Mar 14, 2012 16:20 UTC (Wed) by wookey (guest, #5501) [Link]

Amazing what you learn here. I'd always assumed that Phillips screwdriver bits came from Philips the huge industrial electronics conglomerate. Not so; (the spelling is a clue). As ever wikipedia tells you what you need to know on the subject (including that Phillips was designed to cam-out which is why it cams-out annoyingly).