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Open Invention Network Extends The Linux Ecosystem As TomTom Becomes Licensee

By Pamela Jones et al.

I wanted to highlight this press release, instead of just putting it in News Picks, to make sure you see it and understand the significance of it. It's a press release from Open Invention Network, the Linux Defenders 911 folks, and they announced today that TomTom is now a licensee. That means it comes under the protection of OIN, it makes all its patents available royalty-free to anyone else in the OIN network or who agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux System:

OIN has accumulated more than 275 strategic, worldwide patents and patent applications. These patents are available to all licensees as part of the patent portfolio that OIN is creating around, and in support of Linux.

I'd say the Microsoft/TomTom battle just got bigger, and TomTom is in a stronger position than it was, although TomTom itself has a number of patents of its own, including reportedly a number it purchased in 2007 for just such a moment as this, according to GPS:

Over the years TomTom has built up a strong IP portfolio of navigation patents both through acquisitions and its own research activity. Because TomTom came rather late to the navigation space, when it started facing lawsuits (against Garmin) the Dutch company was in need of early, broad patents for cross licensing situations. Some of these were bought from Horizon navigation in June 2007 for $29 million. Within the patent set named in this litigation two were bought from Visteon and the two others from Horizon Navigation.

That article opines that this will all end in a settlement, but I doubt it, since the GPL makes it impossible to pay any royalties for patents on GPL'd code. That doesn't mean no resolution is possible, as Red Hat showed the way to do that without violating the GPL. I doubt that Microsoft would be willing to do a deal like that, though, since it would make its FAT patents and all the rest it is aiming at TomTom available to one and all forever more royalty-free.

Full post as published by Groklaw on March 23, 2009 (boomark / email).