November 28, 2013 — In a crazy world where technology patents generate many times more profits than the traditional sale of a product or service, what protects the Linux ecosystem, open source, from being the victim of frivolous lawsuits? Among other things, the Open Invention Network (OIN), under which the popular cloud file storage and synchronization service, Dropbox, was shielded either this week. The last one on a very long list. To summarize the role of the OIN, we could call it “the Linux SGAE”… with notable differences: while it is an organization dedicated to protecting Intellectual Property – patents – related to Linux,it does so precisely to prevent abuses by third parties.