Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have joined the patent non-infringement consortium Open Invention Network (OIN).
Founded in 2015, OIN buys patents and then licenses them royalty-free to its members, who all agree not to have their patents enforced against Linux-based projects, within limits.
This can help combat an activity commonly known as “patent phishing,” where people try to force their patents beyond their real legal rights, often in an attempt to extort payments.
What role will Amazon play?
Amazon uses a variety of Linux-based software as part of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) and retail businesses.
The move will see Amazon commit its entire patent portfolio to a set of patents that can be used for free on select open source OIN projects.
Once the OIN agrees to protect a portion of the software, all members are granted royalty-free community patent licenses to use that software.
Amazon says adding its patents to the pool helps reduce the risk of patent aggression for companies that innovate with open source.
“Linux and open source are essential to many of our customers and a key driver of innovation across Amazon,” said Nithya Rove, Amazon Open Source Program Office Director.
We are proud to support a wide range of open source projects, organizations, and partners, and are committed to the long-term success and sustainability of open source as a whole.
They added: “By joining OIN, we continue to strengthen the open source community and help ensure that technologies like Linux remain thriving and available to all.”
It’s hard to say why Amazon chose the latter step, but it’s definitely been throwing its support behind some open source initiatives lately.
For example, in May 2022 Amazon announced $10 million in funding (Opens in a new tab) in the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), joining other big technology backers like Alphabet.
Amazon is no stranger to patent legal disputes.
It was reported in October 2022, that Chinese tech giant Huawei is currently suing Apple for unnamed patent infringement. (Opens in a new tab)
