The following list is a compilation of the most common questions we receive from prospective members, from all over the world.
If you have a question that is not answered on our website, please contact your Regional Licensing Executives.
OIN 2.0
Since 2005, OIN has maintained the world’s largest and oldest patent cross-license that safeguards the development and adoption of open source software (OSS) from patent threats, including from non practicing entities (NPE). Over 4,100 organizations have joined its community and granted the OIN cross-license to fellow members, and together our community owns over three million patents and applications globally. OIN also protects OSS by neutralizing patent threats through targeted defensive activities such as prior art invalidity analyses, third party preissuance submissions, and ex parte reexaminations.
OIN 2.0 is a continuation of OIN’s long standing commitment to protect OSS from patent threats, but modified to reflect today’s realities. Open source technologies have grown exponentially beyond Linux, into new and exciting sectors, and clearly beyond what was originally envisioned in the early 2000s when OIN was created. While OIN offered a free cross-license for over 20 years, in order to become self sustaining and provide for the protection of OSS against patent risks into the future, with the announcement of Table 13 in early 2026 OIN will also simultaneously be launching an annual participation fee for OIN 2.0 community members. The annual participation fee will be tiered based on annual revenue, is described in more detail below, and will be waived for individuals and companies with less than $10 million USD in revenue.
All organizations that have signed the OIN license agreement prior to the Table 13 announcement will continue to have access to the OIN cross-license in Tables 0-12 free of charge, consistent with OIN’s past practice of offering a free cross-license in those technologies. Only the organizations that have more than $10 million USD in revenue and opt into OIN 2.0 will be subject to the OIN 2.0 annual participation fee.
OIN 2.0 will commence with the release of OIN’s next Linux System update (Table 13) on January 27, 2026. This update will expand the scope of OIN’s cross-license yet again with important and widely adopted Open Source Software (OSS) technologies.
OIN community members that opt into OIN 2.0 view Open Source as a critical driver of innovation, are confident with OIN’s stewardship, and appreciate the value of OIN’s patent cross-license that protects the use and development of OSS as it evolves. Ensuring the continued protection of OSS from patent threats over time requires an organization to manage updates to the Linux System definition while also growing the network of participants in the community.
More specifically, you will benefit from:
- Enhanced patent cross-licenses in OSS technologies described in future and updated Linux System tables (Table 13 and each successive update) and expected to expand to contain AI/ML, security, automotive, energy and other important OSS technologies as they evolve,
- OIN’s continued monitoring of patent threats to OSS and support with prior art collection, invalidity analyses, and ex parte reexaminations when under threat for development or use of OSS technologies, and
- OIN’s active strategic operations to address patent risks to OSS technologies, such as updates to the Linux System definition and ongoing efforts to grow OIN’s network of participants, and as a resource for the continued management of the OIN community (via the OIN 1.0 and OIN 2.0 cross-licenses).
The OIN 2.0 fee is an annual participation fee based on the community member’s revenue as indicated in the table below.
| OIN Community Member Revenue | OIN 2.0 Annual Participation Fee | |||
| Tier 5 | < $10 million (and Individuals) | $0 | ||
| Tier 4 | $10 million+ to $50 million | $1,000 | ||
| Tier 3 | $50 million+ to $100 million | $8,000 | ||
| Tier 2 | $100 million+ to $500 million | $16,000 | ||
| Tier 1 | > $500 million | $24,000 |
Your organization must review & sign the OIN 2.0 License Agreement.
If your organization is an existing OIN community member and has less than $10 million USD in annual revenue, you must still sign a new agreement, the OIN 2.0 License Agreement. OIN is not automatically rolling any entities into the new benefits and obligations of OIN 2.0.
No, you are not required to join OIN 2.0. In fact, to join you must affirmatively opt into OIN 2.0 by signing the OIN 2.0 License Agreement.
This will depend on the specific situation and the structure of the transaction in which your business is acquired. If the acquiring company obtains more than 50% of the equity in your company (typically defined as a control position), then the parent acquirer becomes subject to the OIN License Agreement and, as such, will receive the license’s benefits and protections.
Open Invention Network’s License Agreement is innovative in that it offers the same benefit to any and all participants including companies, organizations, and individual developers. This includes founding members as well.
By signing the agreement and becoming part of the OIN Community, an entity is obligated to cross license its own patents that contain claims which read on core Linux/OSS functionality and not assert these patents against other OIN community members. In return, OIN licensees receive the benefits of the cross-license from all other OIN Community members and the associated freedom from patent litigation related to their use of Open Source code.
Linux System
Open Invention Network’s technical committee works with the broader Open Source community, including key Open Source Software (OSS) project leaders, to identify core Open Source project code suitable for inclusion in its Linux System Definition, which comprises several thousand discrete elements of code that, taken together, establish the scope of the OIN cross-license.
To stay up to date with innovations in Open Source technologies and ensure the relevance/value of its cross-license, OIN periodically updates the Linux System Definition, typically on an 18-24 month cycle.
Open Invention Network employs a thoughtful and deliberate process to identify and review candidate packages nominated by key Open Source projects, individuals and organizations. These Open Source Software (OSS) packages are reviewed and evaluated based on the project from which they are drawn, the relative importance of the code to those supporting the project and producing products based thereon, and their history of adoption/use. Given the importance of the Linux System Definition to OIN’s efficacy in enabling patent non-aggression in the core of Linux/OSS, OIN applies a conservative, consensus-driven approach to selecting package additions to the Linux System Definition.
Please visit the Linux System Nomination page.
This will guide you in making your nominations and ensure such nominations can be properly evaluated for prospective inclusion, in a current or future update, to the Linux System Definition.
While it is not a formal obligation, as an OIN community member it could be useful for your technology team to annually conduct an audit of all Open Source code that you use and compare it to what the Linux System currently includes, to better understand what code you use that is not covered under the OIN license. This will reveal your vulnerability associated with Open Source code adoption and point to technologies that you should nominate for inclusion in future Linux System tables. Making regular nominations will allow you to clear patent risk at scale through OIN’s cross-license.
Please see the Q&A below on how to make nominations to the Linux System. Outside of signing the OIN License Agreement (addressed above), there are no ongoing obligations for members.
For the companies that have opted in OIN 2.0 and make more than $10 million USD in revenue, there is an annual obligation to make a OIN 2.0 Participation Fee payment. Please see the Q&A on “How much will OIN 2.0 cost?” for more information.
As of October 2020, Open Invention Network has 15 industries highlighted on its website and showcases members in each industry. This section of the website is dynamic, with new content and members frequently added. OIN also has a Community Member Listing on the website, which can be sorted by industry or by region.
Patent Protection
Ownership of patents is not a requirement to participate in the OIN Licensee Community and enjoy its benefits. OIN welcomes all organizations to join OIN, as this helps reinforce the community norm of keeping core Linux and adjacent Open Source technologies protected from patent litigation.
As was announced on January 27, 2026, the Linux System contains 5,181 packages from a broad spectrum of organizations and groups representing a large share of the body of existing, de-facto standard Open Source projects.
Almost all packages are basic platform-independent functions of modern computer systems. They cover the essential building blocks of today’s Linux platforms from embedded computers to mobile phones and cars, and are used in a wide variety of devices. Main technology areas of software packages include, but are not limited to, common base packages (used in most Linux configurations), software engineering, enterprise computing, mobile, networking and security, cloud computing, web applications, containers, configuration management, software development, automotive and embedded systems. The chances are that even if you do not think your company is using much OSS code, it is quite likely that if your products are at all software-centric then there will be a significant Linux/OSS component. In fact, if you are a hardware company, you will quite likely become increasingly reliant on software in the future and, as such, before too long will use copious amounts of OSS code. In so doing, you will want to have access to patent protection from the OIN license to support your inevitable adoption of core OSS Code.
You may be surprised to learn that every electronic touch today is powered by Linux and/or open source technology, whether or not we realize it. Google. Smart cars. Chromebooks. Android. Streetlights. Social networks. Cloud and data storage. Video conferencing. ATMs. Bitcoin. Amazon. The New York Stock Exchange. There are countless other examples.
If your company believes in collaboration, realizes the new business model for software development and innovation is derived from Open Source, and wants to be protected from the aggressive use of patents, your organization can join other OIN members that wish to publicly demonstrate their commitment and advocacy for both Open Source and patent non–aggression. Your organization will join a community of leading, global companies in the OSS movement.
If they are not already doing so, many companies in India and Europe aspire to sell their products and services in other geographies.
Many of these regions openly support the grant of software patents and, as a result, the potential for litigation in these regions is significant. Joining Open Invention Network’s community will help to reduce organizations’ exposure to patent risk as they market worldwide.
In addition to the core benefits associated with the OIN license, these entities will benefit through publicly demonstrating their commitment to Open Source, and associated patent non-aggression advocacy, which can aid in attracting top software developer talent and contribute to employee retention. OIN is, at its core, promulgating a set of behavioral norms and code of conduct around how one participates as a citizen of the OSS Community. In fact, the OIN license and community participation is central to how an organization innovates and establishes a clear identity in an increasingly OSS-centric world.
For offsetting intellectual property (IP) risk in today’s complex computing environment, where vendors are systems integrators of layered technology solutions, indemnities should not be your only protection. Indemnification is an insurance like product and therefore is designed to limit a vendor’s liability. As constructed in today’s software market, indemnities may limit a vendor’s total liability to a certain monetary amount, are limited in the timeframes that are covered and are limited in the software that is covered. More specifically, indemnities may only cover vendor-branded software, and third-party, open source software that you use may not be covered by the indemnity. Further, indemnities often exclude any combinations with the products or software of others. You are relying on a third-party to protect you, instead of taking proactive and direct to minimize your risk profile.
Rather than rely solely on indemnification, it is prudent to be proactive and take advantage of OIN’s free license and, in so doing, participate in the largest patent non-aggression community in history. With more than 4,100 of the most sophisticated patent-rich companies in the world already OIN members, you will be in good company.
The OIN cross-license provides patent protection for its community members against NPEs and aggressive corporations. The OIN cross-license is particularly important given its size. As the largest active patent cross-license in history, with more than 4,100 members that collectively hold more than 3 million patents and applications, and generate over $10 trillion in annual revenue, OIN 2.0 allows companies to clear patent risk in Open Source at scale.
Aggressive Corporations
Company A is an OIN member and a startup building a cloud product on Linux, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, and OpenSSL (and/or any of the other 5,100+ Open Source technologies in OIN’s Linux System).
Company B is an OIN member and a large tech firm that owns thousands of patents. Company B cannot litigate or assert its patents against Company A for anything that falls within OIN’s Linux System, because of OIN.
Similarly, Company A cannot litigate or assert its patents against Company B, since the OIN license is a two way cross-license.
Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs)
Company B from above sells some of its patents to Entity C, which is an NPE. Entity C attempts to litigate those patents against Company A.
In the same way as above, Entity C cannot litigate or assert its patents against Company A for anything that falls within OIN’s Linux System. The patents from Company B continue to be licensed to Company A via OIN.
In addition to the OIN cross-license, OIN actively tracks Open Source Software litigation to help protect our members. We have used the following strategies to address specific threats:
- Ex Parte Reexaminations & Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs)
- Invalidity Analyses / Claim Charting
- Prior Art collection & sharing
- Third Party Preissuance submissions
- Defensive patent purchases
As background, the Inter Partes Review (IPR) process was created by the 2011 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) with a view to making it a faster, more cost-effective alternative to challenging patent validity in court. However, starting in 2023 some practitioners found that using ex parte reexaminations (“reexaminations”) was faster and had a higher chance of success. In 2025, USPTO Director John Squires shook up the IPR process further by expanding discretionary denials. These changes have made IPRs less effective and left many concerned about the future of the IPR process.
Given this, OIN — like most others — has turned in recent years to ex parte reexaminations to challenge patent validity. However, IPRs and reexaminations are similar in that they are “invalidity proceedings.” In other words, they both seek to challenge poor quality patents by demonstrating that there is prior art, and therefore that the claims of the patent should be limited or invalidated.
OIN founded and was a key financial supporter of the Open Source Zone, run by Unified Patents. Using both ex parte reexaminations and IPRs, the Open Source Zone has had an approximate success rate of 90% in its activities.
Here is an example of a successful IPR from the Open Source Zone:
Background on the Patent: U.S. Patent No. 9,678,774 (secure live migration of virtual machines), owned and asserted by Invincible IP LLC, part of the well-known NPE IP Edge. It had been asserted against companies including Citrix, Nutanix, Alibaba Cloud, DigitalOcean, and NetApp in district court.
Open Source Zone Action: On November 18, 2021, filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) challenging the validity of the ’774 patent – asserting that the claims were unpatentable based on prior art.
Outcome: On January 5, 2023, the PTAB issued a Final Written Decision (IPR2022-00122) holding that all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,678,774 were unpatentable. This effectively invalidated the patent claims the Open Source Zone had targeted.
Here is an example of a successful ex parte reexamination from the Open Source Zone:
Background on the Patent: U.S. Patent 9,578,040 (“Packet communications including determining whether a service request is authorized”), owned and asserted by Orbit Licensing, a non-practicing entity (NPE). This patent had been asserted multiple times, including against implementers of open protocols like SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and companies such as Red Hat, Akamai, Tencent, Limelight Networks, and The MathWorks.
Open Source Zone Action: On November 9, 2021, filed an ex parte reexamination request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) against this patent, arguing that prior art raised a substantial new question of patentability for the claims.
Outcome: On November 18, 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rejection of certain claims of the ’040 patent – specifically claims 1, 4-6, and 9-11 – in the reexamination proceeding. This means the examiner found those claim(s) unpatentable based on the prior art submitted.
It is estimated that 90% of corporations use Open Source Software.
Given the size and scope of the OIN community, estimates indicate that the OIN license could be worth $400,000 to $700,000 per year. At the same time, the annual cost of OIN 2.0 is $24,000. Therefore, sophisticated in-house IP counsel sees OIN as an opportunity to clear patent risk at scale for technologies that they are using. In addition, OIN 2.0 is cost effective relative to the value.
Most ordinary patent pools are not mission focused; instead, they are created by Standard Essential Patent (SEP) owners to efficiently license their patents for licensing revenue. Hence, they are focused on profit for the patent holders. OIN’s mission is to protect Open Source Software (OSS) from patent risks, for the good of all who use and develop OSS. There is not any payment of royalties to patent holders in the OIN cross-license. Further, OIN has been free for 20 years, and with OIN 2.0 it is instituting only a modest annual fee, so it is not about revenue but about organizations coming together to protect the global public good that is OSS.
In addition, the largest patent pools typically have perhaps 60 participants, and they are focused on a singular technology area. OIN has over 4,100 participants, and Open Source has grown into a multitude of different technologies. Therefore, the scale and scope of OIN is much greater than most ordinary patent pools.
Open Source touches everyone’s lives multiple times throughout the day. From communications and financial networks to search engines and smartphones and AI, Open Source is the bedrock that these platforms and applications are built on. If an industry uses computers, connects to the Internet, processes data, runs servers, or embeds software, it benefits from Open Source Software, and today that is virtually all industries.
Don’t miss out on Table 13 expanded coverage.
Linux System Table 13 increases coverage for Cloud Computing, Kubernetes & Eclipse, as well as expands coverage for modern languages by adding many new libraries for Go, Python & Rust.
Because we believe in transparency, choice & shared commitment to the future of Open Source, we are not automatically converting existing members to OIN 2.0. All OIN members need to sign an OIN 2.0 License Agreement.
Don’t miss out on Table 13 expanded coverage.
Linux System Table 13 increases coverage for Cloud Computing, Kubernetes & Eclipse, as well as expands coverage for modern languages by adding many new libraries for Go, Python & Rust.
Because we believe in transparency, choice & shared commitment to the future of Open Source, we are not automatically converting existing members to OIN 2.0. All OIN members need to sign an OIN 2.0 License Agreement.
