In Brief:
- Square joins Open Invention Network as a community member.
- The aim behind this merge is to develop financial tools and services worldwide.
- Square can cross-license its patents to other members on royalty-free basis.
Open Invention Network (OIN), the organization formed to provide cover open-source software (OSS) announced that Square, Inc. has joined as a community member. OIN is the largest patent non-aggression community in history.
The aim behind this partnership among software tech and the financial firm is to offer a full range of financial tools and services to businesses and individuals worldwide, Square leverages OSS to deploy best-in-class platforms, apps, and services.
With this joining, Square is proving the capability to fulfill its commitment to patent non-aggression in OSS.
“As a global leader in the effort to democratize financial services, we are pleased that Square is committed to patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent open source technologies,” said Keith Bergelt, CEO of OIN.
“In addition to joining OIN, Square is one of the founders of the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a collaborative consortium in which members pledge not to use their crypto technology patents, except for defensive purposes,” said Max Sills, Counsel at Square and General Manager of COPA.
OIN’s community works on the patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent open source technologies by cross-licensing Linux System patents to one another on a royalty-free basis.
OIN is funded by Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Sony, SUSE, and Toyota. It has more than 3,500 community members. It gained access to over 2.6 patents and applications.
Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) builds tools to empower businesses and individuals to participate in the economy. It has always been progressive in innovation. Last month, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square revealed the plans to build a decentralized bitcoin exchange and also indicated that the firm is building its own bitcoin hardware wallet.
