Re: [Patents] Round-up: Experts dispute effectiveness of open-source patent pools

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>]

Open Invention Network formed to promote Linux and spur innovation
globally through access to key patents
  Press Release, Open Invention Network (OIN), November 10, 2005.
  http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/

The purpose seems to be to take control of Linux ... which is clearly
the only free software that matters for them. 16 occurences of "Linux"
(including one in the title). Only 4 occurences of the word "free", 2
by Red Hat and 2 in the expression "royalty-free". 5 occurences of
"open source", 2 by Red Hat and 3 by Novell ... and several occurences
of "open standards" which is the least they could do, given their
name. Apparently the big bosses of this initiative are not interested
in free software in the least.
   ... nor in preventing patenting of software, as we already knew
(at least for the 3 larger ones)

Bernard

* Florian Mueller <florian.mueller@nosoftwarepatents.com>, le 19-11-05, a 
écrit:
> EXPERTS DISPUTE EFFECTIVENESS OF
> OPEN-SOURCE PATENT POOLS
> 
> Analysts, community leaders and campaigners comment skeptically
> on the Open Invention Network and the OSDL Patent Commons --
> "Those announcements don't put us closer to a real solution, but even
> further away"
> 
> (19 November 2005) - Recent announcements of the Open Source Development
> Labs' (OSDL) www.patentcommons.org <http://www.patentcommons.org/>  site and
> the Open Invention Network (OIN, www.openinventionnetwork.com
> <http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/> ) claimed to reduce or even eliminate
> threats from software patents to open source, but have come under fire from
> industry analysts as well as free and open-source software (FOSS) advocates.
> 
> Florian Mueller, the founder of the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign that
> successfully opposed a European patent bill this year, believes that "those
> announcements by the OIN and the OSDL grossly overstate the effectiveness of
> those partially ill-conceived approaches. By misleading people they don't
> put us any closer to a real solution, but even further away from one." 
> 
> In a guest commentary on popular IT discussion site Slashdot, Mueller
> explained his skepticism in detail:
> http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/15/1715235
> <http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/15/1715235&tid=166> &tid=166 
> 
> He argues that certain patent-related promises made by such companies as
> IBM, Sun and CA had serious shortcomings, but "even the best pledges can't
> solve" a number of issues outlined in his position statement. When the OSDL
> announced its Patent Commons project in August, it was also viewed as
> "spitting in the wind" by Bruce Perens, the author of the Open Source
> Definition, since the "enemies" of open source would never contribute their
> own patents. In Mueller's opinion, "retaliatory arsenals" -- portfolios of
> patents with which an open-source entity might countersue a company like
> Microsoft -- "could indeed make a major difference", although they "wouldn't
> help against trolls that have no products of their own. And a strategic
> aggressor could secretly arrange for such a troll to do the job." 
> 
> Like Perens, Mueller also believes that the only solution to the software
> patent problem is new legislation: "If the same companies who are behind
> those initiatives were serious about it, the problem could be solved
> politically, but those organizations and especially their in-house lawyers
> don't want to." Moreover, Mueller is worried that the OIN would primarily
> "serve the interests of its five shareholders", some of whom might want to
> gain "effective control over parts of the open-source universe". Developers
> working on such well-known FOSS projects as the PHP programming language
> seconded Mueller's views in their blogs.
> 
> On Friday, online newsletter Linuxgram cited an unnamed "informed source"
> which said that the OIN's funding only amounted to $40 million, down
> precipitously from the $280 million originally envisioned by its founders.
> The newsletter claims that "in these days of billion-dollar settlements, $40
> million just doesn't go very far" when one intends to acquire intellectual
> property rights.
> 
> The OIN's shareholders include IBM, Sony, Philips, Novell, and Red Hat,
> which according to an SEC filing kicked in half of the OIN's financing
> alone. Nokia and Yahoo are reported to have dropped out between the OIN's
> foundation and its first announcement. Matt Asay, a vice president of
> open-source company Alfresco and former executive of Novell, said in his
> weblog that the OIN is "shamefully underfunded":
> http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2005/11/open_invention.htm
> l 
> 
> Asay also says that the OIN's backers should either get serious about this
> effort or "stop wasting our time and bandwidth on press releases".
> 
> Concerns over the OIN's funding as well as its agenda have previously been
> voiced by analysts. A weblog quotes Laura DiDio, a Yankee Group research
> fellow, as saying that the OIN's announcement raises more questions than it
> answers:
> http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2005/11/new_linux_ventu.ht
> ml
> 
> DiDio, who has been accused of spreading "FUD" (fear, uncertainty and doubt)
> by some activists because of her long-standing concerns over IP issues for
> Linux, added: "All you need is one successful suit against Linux for the
> game to change."
> 
> Research firm Gartner also claims that the OIN "raises issues":  
> http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=136346
> 
> According to Gartner, "software patents pose the single largest threat to
> the open-source software model", and "the Linux community will have few
> defenses against the power of Microsoft, if the software giant should seek
> to claim royalties from the use of allegedly misappropriated IP."
> 
> In a list of five recommendations for the OIN to succeed, Gartner calls on
> the OIN to provide more information on its business model and the licensing
> terms on which it plans to grant royalty-free usage rights to its patents.
> 
> NOTE: Florian Mueller founded the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign in 2004
> with the support of three corporate sponsors, and managed it until March of
> 2005. He then gave his website to the Foundation for a Free Information
> Infrastructure (FFII), the leading European pressure group that opposes the
> patentability of computer programs.
> 
> CONTACT INFORMATION
> Florian Mueller
> florian.mueller@nosoftwarepatents.com 
> 
> 
>  
> 

-- 
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