OS.University joins LOT Network, taking a stand against blockchain patent trolls
OS.UNIVERSITY — on a mission to help learners and professionals claim and advance their academic and career identity beyond institutional and national borders by providing them with a competence passport on the immutable blockchain, today joined the LOT Network (https://lotnet.com/) — an international network designed to proactively address the risks and costs posed by Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs) and patent privateering.
LOT Network (short for License on Transfer) is a global non-profit community of companies committed to protecting themselves long-term against PAEs and their costly patent lawsuits. Each member of LOT Network has made a strategic decision to do the right thing for the global Intellectual Property community by taking a long-term stand against Patent Trolls. Some of LOT’s 200+ members include RedHat, Google, SalesForce, Oracle, Cicso, Canon, Lenovo, Dropbox, Facebook, SAP, GitHub, and others. 1/3rd of LOT Members are acutally start-ups, such as OS.UNIVERSITY.
“It was a logical decision for an edtech startup such as OS.UNIVERSITY that develops and implements blockchain technologies to join the LOT Network. Startups and small companies are the softest targets for trolls, e.g. 50% of all companies sued by trolls make less than $10 million/year. Further more, over 50% of all patent lawsuits concern software patents. Having looked at the numbers, the opportunity to become immunized to 1.1 million patents seemed quite appealing to an open-source startup like ours”, says the co-founder of the world’s learning & development ledger on the blockchain — Hristian Daskalov. “We are proud to be the first blockchain startup, operating in the field of education and career development, that is joining the network — I hope the else will follow us soon’’, concludes OS.Uni project lead.
In addition to LOT Network, OS.UNIVERSITY is a part of the Open Invention Network (http://www.openinventionnetwork.com). IBM, Red Hat and SUSE (then Novell) coordinated an effort with Sony, Philips and NEC to conceptualize and implement a solution designed to create a “patent no-fly zone” around the core of Linux. The entity charged with administering this patent no-fly zone, the Open Invention Network (OIN), utilizes a free license to require participant companies, such as OS.UNIVERSITY, to forebear litigation and cross-license patents in the core of Linux and adjacent open source software. In the 12 years since its formation, the organization has grown into the largest patent non-aggression community in history with an excess of 2,500 participant companies, which own upwards of 2 million patents.
