Open Invention Network Surpasses 3,000 Members

Durham, NC (June 18, 2019) - Open Invention Network (OIN), the largest patent non-aggression community in history, announced today that more than 3,000 organizations have joined its community and granted the OIN license to fellow members. To put this milestone into perspective, in only two years, OIN has increased the size of its community by 50 percent. This indicates the growing importance of open source software (OSS) and is an acknowledgment that patent non-aggression is a vital tenet of the open source community.

OIN's expanding community is distinct as a patent non-aggression organization because participation is free to everyone. Through the OIN license, our community gains access to patented inventions worth hundreds of millions of dollars while promoting a favorable environment for Linux and related open source software.

Keith Bergelt

"As a modality for innovation and invention, open source and Linux are unmatched in the modern world. The open source community's success is powered by the fact that shared innovation acts as a force multiplier - where one plus one equals orders of magnitude more than two," said Keith Bergelt, CEO of Open Invention Network. "OIN's remarkable growth has been driven by heightened recognition of the importance of open source and a broad-based recognition of patent non-aggression as a cultural norm in the Linux and greater open source community. Joining OIN is viewed by many as a litmus test of authenticity in the open source community"

OIN facilitates the sharing of patent rights between its licensees and ensures companies adopting core open source technology will be free from patent litigation risk from fellow community members. OIN's Linux System captures this core OSS technology and defines the scope of OIN's patent non-aggression. As Linux has become pervasive, the Linux System has evolved to address Linux and adjacent Linux-related open source technologies produced by OSS projects focused on mobile communications, mobile payments, computing, blockchain, Cloud, IoT, and embedded and automotive technologies, among many others.

Recent licensees include:

• Microsoft
• Alibaba
• Ant Financial
• AT&T
• Casio
• Caterpillar
• China UnionPay
• Clarion
• Costco
• Endress+Hauser
• Flex
• Fuji Electric
• GoPro
• Great Wall Motor
• Hangzhou Hikvision
• Heidelberg
• Infosys
• Johnson Controls and Tyco International
• KDDI
• Komatsu
• Medtronic
• Mindray
• Phoenix Contact
• Renault
• Roku
• SAIC Motor
• Straumann
• Tencent
• Tinno
• Uniview
• Zhejiang Dahua
• Zhejiang Geely and Volvo-

OIN's community practices patent non-aggression in core open source technologies by cross-licensing Linux System patents to one another on a royalty-free basis. Patents owned by OIN are similarly licensed royalty-free to any organization that agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux System. The OIN license can be signed online at http://www.j-oin.net/.

About Open Invention Network

Open Invention Network (OIN) is the largest patent non-aggression community in history and supports freedom of action in Linux as a key element of open source software (OSS). Patent non-aggression in core technologies is a cultural norm within OSS so that the litmus test for authentic behavior in the OSS community includes OIN membership. Funded by Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Red Hat, Sony, SUSE and Toyota, OIN has more than 3,000 community members and owns more than 1,300 global patents and applications. The OIN patent license and member cross-licenses are available royalty-free to any party that joins the OIN community.

For more information, visit http://www.openinventionnetwork.com.

###

Media-Only Contact:
Ed Schauweker
AVID Public Relations for Open Invention Network
[email protected]
+1 (703) 963-5238