Square, a well-known payments company, has recently joined the OIN (Open Invention Network). The OIN is an organization that plans to drastically lessen patent aggression and instead focus more on open-source software.
As the newest member of the OIN, Square may now have its patents be cross-licensed to various other members, all without any royalties. This will result in a reduction regarding patent risks while simultaneously improving open-source platforms, services, and applications.
OIN CEO talks about Square
The CEO of the Open Invention Network, Keith Bergelt, recently made his opinions on acquiring Square as a member. He said that he is quite happy with Square joining the OIN and that this will go a long way towards democratizing financial services. He added that Square’s commitment to the aforementioned patent non-aggression should be of great assistance in various open-source technologies and also core Linux.
The Open Invention Network receives funding from Google, Toyota, SUSE, Sony, IBM, NEC, and Philips. Currently, the OIN has at least 3,500 members, all of whom receive access to more than 2.6 patents as well as applications, in addition to the Open Invention Network’s portfolio, which has 1,000+ IP assets upon registering.
Square’s involvement
Square had also played a vital part in setting up the COPA (Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance), the members of which have since promised to not use any cryptocurrency technology patents, with the only exception where the usage of these patents would be deemed acceptable being in certain defensive situations and scenarios.
Jack Dorsey, the CEO and founder of Square, has been supportive of cryptocurrencies for a long time. He is also the CEO of Twitter, a platform that he has often utilized for the purposes of expressing this support and help out the crypto industry when he can. In fact, there have been times in the past when Jack had stated that he was ready to leave everything behind and start working in the cryptocurrency sector on a full-time basis, thereby highlighting his consistent support.
As such, it really should not come as any surprise that Square has become a member of the Open Invention Network, as Jack is always striving to improve the technical aspects of whatever project he finds himself a part of. Many remain hopeful that with Square’s participation, other big names such as those of Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. will also eventually join. However, nothing has been announced or confirmed regarding the OIN by those two as of yet.
