Linux Defenders Aims to Fight Patent Trolls

Although it was unveiled in early December, the Linux Defenders program was finally launched on Monday, exciting many within the IP community.  The program aims to use the developer’s community to help find prior art that relates to patents.  If prior art is discovered that describes a patent before it was granted, then that patent would be invalidated.  The sponsors of the program are Open Invention Network, the Software Freedom Law Center, and the Linux Foundation.

As reported on ZDNet, Linux Defenders has three sections: Peer to Patent; Post-Issue Peer to Patent; and Defensive Publications.  The first, Peer to Patent, deals with patents under review.  Recently, the USPTO opened up its patent-examination process to the Linux community, enabling the community to participate in the USPTO’s established process.

Post-Issue Peer to Patent calls for community peer review for patents that have already been issued.  As the Linux Defenders website states:

In recent years, the USPTO has at times been overwhelmed by the number of patent applications being filed in areas of new technology, such as software and business methods. Lacking access to comprehensive prior art in these subject matter areas, the USPTO had little choice but to grant patents that would otherwise have failed the test of patentability had relevant prior art been before the examiner.

Lastly, Linux Defenders will also gather submissions of inventions that have not yet been given a patent.  These documents will form a body of defensive publications of prior art, which could prevent poor patents from being granted in the future.

In addition, the program is running a Linux Defenders 911 website, where companies can report attempted patent-enforcement action against Linux developers.

Linux Defenders is Newest Patent Protection Program

The Linux Defenders program was unveiled Tuesday, as a program designed to address intellectual property concerns surrounding inferior patents and the open source community.  The program, the brainchild of the Open Invention Network, aims to make it easier for USPTO officers to access prior art, increase the quality of issued patents, and decrease the number of poor quality patents.

As reported by Information Week, the program solicits prior patents to help invalidate and reject patents that are of low quality.  The program goes one step further by also encouraging high quality inventions and defensive applications.

Keith Bergelt, the CEO of Open Invention Network, said “This landmark program will benefit open source innovation by significantly reducing the number of poor quality patents that might otherwise be used by patent trolls or strategists who behaviors and business models are antithetical to true innovation and are thus threatened by Linux.”

Use of the Linux Defenders program is free of charge to those who have contributed prior art or inventions.  It will also contain a Defensive Publications component with Web-based forms, and a “Wiki-style” contribution model.  Defensive Publications are records that provide descriptions and artwork of a product so that it can enter the public domain.