IBM, Sony Join for Linux Patent Initiative
In an effort to create a unified front against Microsoft as well as spur Linux development, five companies joined forces on Thursday to create the Open Invention Network. The company is in the process of gathering patents surrounding the open source OS and will make them available to developers royalty-free.
Three electronics companies are involved: IBM, Philips and Sony, and two Linux software companies: Red Hat and Novell.
Experts say that legal risks due to the mish-mash of Linux patents pose the biggest roadblock to more widespread use of the operating system. If the organization is successful in gathering the necessary patents, usage could accelerate.
"This effort will minimize or outright eliminate much of the doubt that OEMs, ODMs, PC makers, appliance and consumer electronics manufacturers have expressed to Envisioneering over the years as to why they were either slow or shy at making great use of Linux," Envisoneering analyst Richard Doherty said.
"The losers in this enterprise will likely be lawyers. Who loses besides attorneys? Microsoft. A dozen or more real time operating system vendors may need to evolve or stand by and watch their market shares decline."
As long as a company pledges not to assert its own patents against Linux or its applications, OIN will agree to provide access to the patents free of charge.
The organization also believes the deal will have a significant economic impact. IDC expects Linux to grow 26 percent annually from $20 billion this year to $40 billion in 2008.
Initially, the group holds the rights to several B2B e-commerce patents that were formerly owned by JGR, a Novell subsidiary.
"By providing this unique collaborative framework, Open Invention Network will set open source developers free to do what they do best --innovate," Red Hat senior vice president Mark Webbink said. "At the same time, Open Invention Network extends to distributors and users of open source software freedom from concern about software patents."