[Bloat] On an org and on joining the software patent non-aggression community

[David Collier-Brown]

It changes the process from "don't read any patents and hope you don't 
accidentally reinvent something" to "have access to a group of patents 
under a set of rules"

As patents were defined as providing "how to" information in return for 
a commercial protection scheme, being able to read them is arguably a 
good thing for a development community.

--dave
[IANAL, I A public-policy wonk who used to work with lots of ALs 
typesetting caselaw]


On 31/10/15 09:20 AM, Dave Taht wrote:
> Over the last 5 years or so the open inventions network has grown by
> leaps and bounds.
> http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/community-of-licensees/
>
> Here in the bufferbloat pits... instead of joining that, we worked
> really hard to make sure codel went out into the public domain
> unpatented - for anyone to use, and so far, so good on that....
>
> But there are so many IP landmines ahead (and behind) that it makes
> sense for at least CeroWrt/make-wifi-fast to now join with a group
> like OIN for mutual defense against the trolls. I think. Maybe.
>
> Perhaps other groups like gargoyle or dd-wrt should also join, if they
> have not already.
>
> In particular, lots of lots of chip producers have joined OIN of late,
> and with probably lots of IP to share. To name just a few: Avago,
> Cavium, Cadence, Cavium, DSP, Mellanox, Sequans, VIA, LG, CalAmp, etc.
>
> If anyone here has any comments, positive or negative to make about
> oin, or this course of action, please discuss. I have no idea how
> companies like the Cisco's of the world, view OINs efforts.
>
> i would not mind securing and then assigning to an oin, a hw patent or
> two, myself. I think. A plaque on the wall would be nice, but I am
> still wrapping my head around the implications of how oin relates to
> hardware development....
>
> ...
>
> In other news, actually making cerowrt and/or bufferbloat.net a functioning org
> (non profit or for profit) is something on my mind - probably based in
> europe (sweden or denmark). If anyone here would like to discuss that
> (need a BOD,
> articles of incorporation, etc), drop me a line off-list, and if
> enough people are interested, we'll hash it out on some other list.
>
> ...Until now, I have generally taken care of paying all of cerowrt and
> bufferbloat.net's misc bills, out of teeny little teklibre. All else
> was provided by volunteers and orgs that cared enough to loan or
> donate resources, which was pretty awesome. Total cash donations to
> the whole five year effort from individuals was probably less than
> about 15k, prior to the fcc letter fundraiser, which raised ~8k.
>
> (I shudder to think of what the real costs were....)
>
> As a non-org...
>
> We benefited hugely from isc.org's hosting in particular, but they are
> now shutting down ( :( ) that, and google funded the openwrt build
> system for a while (grant now expired), and I survived on somewhat
> non-related contracts with comcast and google fiber and misc others
> and am still paying the last bills for the now-shut-down yurtlab, and
> maintaining the sole remaining machine in the google compute build
> cluster, (which I would like to spin up more fully as we try to get
> homenet and make-wifi-fast more widely tested) - and I'm based at the
> uni of karlstad in sweden presently...
>
> So a ton of stuff has to move around... the dns servers and and web
> servers have to move into the cloud soon...
>
> ...AND there may be a few grant opportunities arriving, that it would
> be saner to A - have another/real org for, along with B - have better
> housing against liabilities and new costs.
>
> Another option, instead of forming a new org, would be to join
> something like software for the public interest... get icei.org more
> alive... or.. nl.net.
>
> Nlnet.nl has the first small scale/small grant program/process (30k
> typically) for sustaining engineering  that I have dealt with that I
> have ever seen work - it is fast and easy - as since august they been
> helping pay for jon's work on cake! - and they've been a joy to work
> with, as was iis before them.
>
> So A - forming an org, and B - getting protections for same - are
> conflated, but what I mostly wanted to get out of my mailbox this
> morning was the ideas behind OIN.
>
> Anyway, below is the conversation I'd had a few weeks back with one of
> the members of oin that convinced me we should look them over, and
> that maybe now would be a good time to get the house more in order.
>
>
> Dave Täht
> I just invested five years of my life to making wifi better. And,
> now... the FCC wants to make my work, illegal for people to install.
> https://www.gofundme.com/savewifi
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Valer Mischenko
> Date: Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 8:34 AM
> Subject: Re: CeroWrt joining software patent non-aggression community
> To: Dave Taht <dave.taht at gmail.com>
>
>
> Nice to hear from you Dave,
>
> That's because virtually all the innovation is the legal land-mine,
> OIN exists and is doing it so well now. Not because we like patents,
> just the opposite. But because we realise that the community needs to
> show off its weapons to counteract aggression. A prayer cannot stop
> aggression, but showing off your weapons can often prevent it.
>
> You may see it as building a fortress in a hostile woods full of
> trolls. Everybody who does not want to be attacked and wants to be
> protected is welcome. With a weapon or without, big or small,
> commercial or non-profit. If one does not have a weapon, he brings a
> brick with him (his voice against aggression) which entrenches the
> walls of the fort. That's how we build it.
>
> Even if you are careful as hell in choosing the techniques, you cannot
> prevent them attack you. If you are in the market, your are exposed.
> That's a silly fact. With OIN we cannot change the world, but we try
> to build a mutual protection around innovation. For trolls it seems
> quite easy to threaten anyone - this is just righting a letter to an
> innovating collective, claiming any patent infringement and wait for
> fees. Defending yourself from them, on the other side, might be very
> difficult. This asymmetry is widely exploited by trolls. But if you
> have unconditional rights to use this ocean of intellectual property
> of OIN members, they can barely do anything to you, as you are covered
> to the best possible extent. Albeit not 100%, nobody can guarantee
> that of course.
>
> OIN provides unprecedented IP coverage. There is no analogue. Hundreds
> of thousand of patents around Linux plus additionally ~1000 patents of
> the OIN which you get the right to use forever. In your open source or
> proprietary products. And you keep this rights even if OIN or any or
> all members do not exist anymore. For you undersign the license, not a
> contract with OIN. The license may sound a bit legalistic, as it was
> compiled as "one-size-fits-all", from multinational to SME to startup
> to project, and to help the licensees to defend themselves as good as
> possible. What the license in essence says is the following:
>
> (1) All members give the project Interactive a royalty-free license
> for their Linux-related patents and patent applications.
>
> (2) In return the project gives a royalty-free license for any Linux
> system patents or patent applications (if any) to other members.
>
> (3) OIN gives the project a royalty-free license for the large
> portfolio of OIN's own defensive portfolio of patents and patent
> applications (~1000) which includes many other fields of open source
> next to Linux, like cloud, PHP, eCommerce, biometrics, apps building,
> embedded, etc.
>
> That's it in fact. You only share your Linux related patents with the
> rest of the community, if you have any. If not, that's OK too, you do
> not have to contribute anything in kind either.
>
> This might be a no brainer when discussing this with your mates. If
> necessary we can set up a conf call and talk about this together with
> other team members.
>
> Let me know if I can help with anything.
>
> Best regards, Valer.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 2:03 PM, Dave Taht <dave.taht at gmail.com> wrote:
>> yes, I have thought about it. when cerowrt started you were a lot
>> smaller than this.
>>
>> on the other hand, we worked really hard to make codel patent-free in
>> the first place, as we wanted a total non-agression pact on it, AND we
>> wanted people to be able to reuse the code in binary only distros,
>> etc. I also have some trust issues.
>>
>>
>> That said, yes, we'll join, after I discuss with the other
>> participants in the make-wifi-fast project. That portion of the field
>> is a legal land-mine, and while I have been careful to only use
>> techniques for which I believe sufficient prior art exists to
>> invalidate any patents we might cross, it would be nice to have a
>> higher scale of protection for the work.
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Valer Mischenko
>> <vmischenko at openinventionnetwork.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Dave,
>>>
>>> My name is Valer. I am from Open Invention Network. We help protect Open
>>> Source and Linux-related technology from patent tension. Our goal is to
>>> build a non-aggression “standard of behavior” to protect the future of Linux
>>> and Open Source. OIN was created with the support of Red Hat, IBM, Philips,
>>> NEC, Sony and Novell to foster a safe software patent environment for
>>> producers and users of Linux. Ever since we have expanded  to lot of more of
>>> open source covering now 2335 packages.
>>>
>>> Today we have almost 1800 participants who have stepped forward to support
>>> patent non-aggression through our community, ranging from OpenWrt to Ubuntu
>>> to Liferay to Mirantis to NGiNX to KDE to Mozilla to Python.
>>>
>>> CeroWrt, as many of our members, is an active contributor to the Linux
>>> kernel. Therefore we want to invite your project too to join our software
>>> patent non-aggression pact.
>>>
>>> Our community is free to join. The only thing we want is a pledge that
>>> CeroWrt would never use patents aggressively against other participants in
>>> the broader definition of the Linux System. Of course it never will, but it
>>> can also be very useful for the users of the code and services of yours when
>>> they see the way to protect themselves from aggression through you taking
>>> part of our community.
>>>
>>> By joining OIN you will not only help building a no-fly-zone around Linux
>>> and open source, it is pragmatic to secure your rights to OIN's and
>>> participants' intellectual property assets as part of a comprehensive risk
>>> mitigation strategy, as you will obtain free, unrestricted worldwide license
>>> to all hundreds of thousands of Linux related patents of the OIN members.
>>> Plus around 1000 very basic OIN owned patents addressing various open source
>>> technologies like cloud, PHP, eCommerce, biometrics, apps building,
>>> embedded, etc. You will get it all for free and forever, with the only
>>> obligation in return - not to attack other members around the Linux System.
>>>
>>> It is an excellent opportunity for CeroWrt to position itself effectively
>>> with regards to Linux and broader open source technology. You would be
>>> joining the community consisting not only of the hardest proponents of open
>>> source technology, but also patent-centric companies such as Fujitsu, Check
>>> Point, Vodafone, LG and HTC in perceiving tremendous benefit from engagement
>>> and understand the importance of open innovation.
>>>
>>> You may be interested in some credentials and in getting more context about
>>> our work. Here is an endorsement from Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of the
>>> Linux Foundation:
>>> http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2009/09/protecting-linux-microsoft-yes-microsoft-got-caught
>>>
>>> Here from Eben Moglen, Chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center:
>>> http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/now/organizations/OIN
>>>
>>>
>>> This is all about building a community intended to get the software patent
>>> aggression out of this world, with the idea behind: when everybody pledges
>>> peace, there will be no wars. We are passionate supporters of open
>>> innovation. I hope we will be able to welcome CeroWrt to our non-aggression
>>> community. Every single voice helps us counteract patent aggression and
>>> build on a more collaborative future.
>>>
>>> Attached is a very short overview of OIN + FAQs, but I am happy to answer
>>> any questions and to explain in more detail what we do.
>>>
>>> Can you discuss this with the team and let me know what you guys think? May
>>> you decide positively there is a possibility to sign in online:
>>>
>>> http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/joining-oin/license-agreement/
>>>
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Valer Mischenko,
>>> Open Invention Network
>>>
>>> www.openinventionnetwork.com
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dave Täht
>> Do you want faster, better, wifi? https://www.patreon.com/dtaht
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-- 
David Collier-Brown,         | Always do right. This will gratify
System Programmer and Author | some people and astonish the rest
davecb at spamcop.net           |                      -- Mark Twain