Bonum Certa Men Certa

Groklaw Responds to FUD About OIN

Mad musician



Summary: Response to the noise made by a "campaigner" for hire, who tries to characterise the pro-Linux OIN -- not Microsoft/Apple/SCO -- as an 'evil empire'

TECHRIGHTS is an OIN sceptic, but the apparent Microsoft lobbyist mentioned in the previous post (Florian Müller) went too far by discounting OIN success stories [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and piggybacking ZDNet to label OIN "a scam". Over at Groklaw, Pamela Jones responded to Müller's FUD without naming him. She linked to this recent talk last week.



Recently significant capital has been invested in patent speculation and for the last eighteen months, Congress has been discussing patent reform. Hedge funds in need of generating quick returns in this challenging market are seeking investments in patent trolls. At the same time, corporate entities have built large patent portfolios. The resulting patent arms race is fueled by the existence of poor quality patents. This is partially due to the fact that insufficient prior art was identified to enable rejection of poor quality patents by the USPTO. Any changes made to the current laws are likely to be suboptimal without participation from the open source community in reforming the patent system. Keith Bergelt, CEO of OIN, will share his insights into the build-up and ramifications of the patent arms race for open source and discuss market-based patent reform solutions, to help ensure that we will keep open source open.


"Keith Bergelt of Open Invention Network also spoke at LinuxCon 2010," wrote Jones. "His slides are downloadable as a PDF from the linked page. Notice slides 12-15, because it will show you what you can do to help, particularly with regard to codifying prior art and regarding defensive publication. As he points out, we have to deal with the past, regardless of the future of software patents, and of course the present. [...] If you have *any* doubts about why Open Invention Network matters, and the kinds of things the organization has done to protect Linux, I suggest you listen the introduction to his speech last year at LinuxCon, and then listen to his speech. The theme is the attempt that year by Microsoft to auction off patents it believed relate on Linux to patent trolls."

Separately Jones advised: "don't let anyone persuade you that there is no purpose to OIN. If you have any patentable ideas, and you wish to help build up OIN's muscle, contact them." In relation to another article about patents, Jones concluded: "This is the place Keith Bergelt of OIN referenced in his talk last year at LinuxCon, and this is where defensive publications can be collected. This isn't a patent; it's a way to ensure no one else can patent something you've written about, because it's now prior art. This is one of the things that OIN will do with you, if you have a useful idea that could be patented but you hate patents and prefer not to do that."

“...don't let anyone persuade you that there is no purpose to OIN.”
      --Pamela Jones, Groklaw
To summarise Techrights' position, we are adamant about ending software patents. OIN does not do this, but it provides a temporary fix, like some kind of plaster. Most of our posts about OIN are supportive of OIN, with some reservations. The same goes for Peer-to-Patent.

In the mean time, Red Hat's Wildeboer identifies three more patents [1, 2, 3] which he claims to be a threat to the World Wide Web. It's an important issue we mentioned some hours ago. "Is this a patent on cookies," he asks. "If yes, it might become a royal PITA for the web [...] And in that same case we have very broad e-commerce patents" (Wildeboer speaks for himself here, not for Red Hat, which is an OIN member).

In conclusion, let's not attack OIN. Scepticism is healthy, but what Müller has been doing is destructive. Even the FFII disagrees with him, both the decisions and the methods (after inheriting his campaign!). It's not the same person from 2005. Something apparently changed.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
 
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025