Baidu joins Open Invention Network Linux patent protection group - ZDNet

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Open Source

The Open Invention Network (OIN) is the largest patent non-aggression community in history. Its chief job is protecting Linux and open-source friendly companies from patent attacks. Now, Baidu, the largest Chinese language search engine and one of the world's leading artificial intelligence (AI) firms in the world, has joined OIN.

This move makes perfect sense AI is almost entirely driven by open-source programs such as TensorFlow, Keras, and Theano. So, even before this intellectual property law move, Baidu has been an active, global open-source AI supporter.

"Artificial intelligence-driven and internet-based services continue to spawn new industries while advancing business performance through actionable intelligence. As a global leader in internet and AI-related services and products, Baidu recognizes the benefits of shared innovation inherent in open source," said Keith Bergelt, the OIN's CEO. "We are pleased Baidu has joined our community and committed to patent non-aggression in Linux and adjacent open source technologies."

"Baidu is and will always be a strong supporter and participant of open source," added Cui Lingling, the head of Baidu's Patent Department. "Baidu has launched a number of open-source platforms including Apollo (Autonomous Driving Platform), PaddlePaddle (Parallel Distributed Deep Learning), and the like, and has been actively building patent cooperation. Baidu's participation in the OIN community shows our consistent commitment to open-source innovation. Baidu will continue to support Linux patent protection and help foster a healthy Linux ecosystem."

Baidu is only the latest of many of the world's top technology businesses to support open-source patent sharing. Japanese hardware power Taiyo Yuden, Chinese 5G leader Huawei, and Microsoft have all joined the OIN in the last two years.

OIN's community members practice patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent open-source technologies by cross-licensing Linux System patents to one another royalty-free. Similarly, OIN licenses its patents royalty-free to organizations that agree not to assert their patents against the Linux System. The OIN license can be signed online.