22 December 2010, 10:26

KDE e.V. joins Open Invention Network as a licensee

KDE ev Logo KDE e.V., the non-profit organisation representing the KDE Project in legal and financial matters, has announced that it has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN) as a licensee. Discussing the announcement, KDE Vice President Adriaan de Groot said, "We view an OIN license as one of the key methods through which open source innovators can deter patent aggression", adding that, "We are committed to freedom of action in Linux, and in taking a license we help to address the threat from companies that support proprietary platforms to the exclusion of open source initiatives, and whose behaviors reflect a disdain for inventiveness and collaboration".

OIN Logo Formed in 2005, the Open Invention Network was originally founded by IBM and Red Hat, and has acquired a number of patents in its portfolio to protect what it defines as a Linux System. It has also received investments from NEC, Novell, Philips and Sony.