Oracle joins Linux patent commons

. . . keeping an eye on the penguin

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Mar. 26, 2007

On March 27, Oracle and the Open Invention Network (OIN) will announce that Oracle will become an OIN licensee. By doing this, Oracle opens the doors to making some of its patents available royalty-free to any company, institution, or individual that agrees not to assert its patents against Linux.

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OIN members -- which currently include IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony -- agree to assign software patents that might affect Linux to the OIN. These patents can then be used by anyone in Linux without having to pay any royalty fees or having to worry about future law suits.

"We are very pleased to have Oracle become a licensee of Open Invention Network's patents," said Jerry Rosenthal, OIN's CEO, and former IBM's VP of intellectual property and licensing business, in a statement. "Oracle is the global leader in enterprise software. It is a prime example of forward-thinking companies that understand the value inherent in the openness and collaborative culture of the Linux community. OIN has and will continue to acquire intellectual property that will protect Linux developers, distributors and users, today and years into the future."

Oracle chief corporate a Edward Screven added, "We have been active members of the Linux development community for years. We believe licensing Open Invention Network's patents provides assurance to anyone working to make Linux better, including Oracle."

Oracle has not announced at this time what, if any, patents it will be assigning to the OIN. In late 2006, the database giant began offering its own "Unbreakable Linux" distribution, a Red Hat Linux clone.

Since the OIN was founded in November 2005, the organization has accumulated more than 100 strategic, worldwide patents and patent applications, it says. These patents are available to all licensees as part of the patent commons that OIN is creating around, and in support of, Linux. According to the OIN, this patent commons makes it economically attractive for companies that want to repackage, embed, and use Linux to host specialized services or create complementary products.

Patent cross-licensing agreements aren't new. Oracle appearing to grant an automatic patent license to any Linux developer that agrees to abide by OIN's rules, however, is new. With companies like Microsoft continuing to rattle the saber of possible patent litigation against Linux developers, steps like this one may help to remind them that they're not the only ones with large software patent portfolios.

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.