Open-source firms seek safety in numbers

[Basil Chupin]

    Patent disputes concerns force open source firms to band together.

The growing number of patent disputes in the software industry appears 
to be pushing more open-source companies towards a safety-net consortium 
of like-minded software vendors.

Open Invention Network (OIN) describes itself as an intellectual 
property company that was formed to promote Linux by using patents to 
create a collaborative environment.

However, software companies also see it as an insurance policy against 
legal attacks by proprietorial companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and 
Apple.

Unix desktop company KDE is the latest firm to obtain a license from the 
network and vice president Adriaan de Groot cited the threat from 
corporate lawyers as a reason for joining OIN.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/242635,open-source-firms-seek-safety-in-numbers.aspx

-- 
"Everybody wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die."

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