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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the what's-the-catch dept.

Microsoft open-sources its patent portfolio

By joining the Open Invention Network, Microsoft is offering its entire patent portfolio -- with the legacy exception of its Windows and desktop application code -- to all of the open-source patent consortium's members.

Before Microsoft joined, OIN had more than 2,650 community members and owns more than 1,300 global patents and applications. OIN is the largest patent non-aggression community in history and represents a core set of open-source intellectual-property values. Its members include Google, IBM, Red Hat, and SUSE. The OIN patent license and member cross-licenses are available royalty-free to anyone who joins the OIN community.

This is maybe the biggest Microsoft news since Microsoft "acquired" The Linux Foundation nearly two years ago in Nov 2016.

Also at Ars Technica.


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Thursday October 11 2018, @01:03AM (3 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 11 2018, @01:03AM (#747229) Journal

    So no more Microsoft tax on every Android sold? Really?

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  • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday October 11 2018, @01:32AM (2 children)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 11 2018, @01:32AM (#747237) Journal

    Probably dependent on every single hand held manufacturer and whether they are also a member.
     
    I just scrolled through the members shown here:
    https://www.openinventionnetwork.com/about-us/members/ [openinventionnetwork.com]
     
    and only saw two mobile phone manufacturers.
     
    Google
    Sony

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    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:26AM (1 child)

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:26AM (#747332) Homepage
      You missed Purism, and of course some carriers rebrand phones - I did notice a couple of carriers there. Lots of noticeable absentees there, certainly. Given Samsung and its Tizen were pushing for openness (though not for the purest of motives, I detected whilst I was working there), that's a huge gap in the list.
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      • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday October 11 2018, @09:40AM

        by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 11 2018, @09:40AM (#747354) Journal

        Wasn't really aware of them. Their phone doesn't appear to exist yet, although there is a pre-order button, it's basically a gofundme/kickstarter looking page. for $599 you can hope for one in April 2019.
        .
        Looks like they roll their own OS based on Linux rather than using Android anyway.

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