A move to create an organisation to defend the Linux community from patent infringement has been described as only partly addressing the needs of the community by experts. The Open Invention Network (OIN), which is an initiative to acquire patents and offer them royalty-free in a bid to promote Linux, is a fantastic idea and a welcomed move, but perhaps does not address some issues of great concern to corporate users.
To succeed, Gartner believes that as well as accumulating a large number of patents, the OIN must demonstrate a long-term business model to attract investors.
The Gartner study noted that, although the initial group includes investors from the consumer market, it has failed to attract HP, Intel, AMD, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu and Unisys, among others.
The group must also, according to Gartner, clarify how it will differentiate itself from the Open Source Development Lab's (OSDL's) patents common project, which is also reaching out to patent holders, but without mandating an acquisition policy.