May 6, 2021 — betakit — a Canadian start-up news and tech innovation publication — takes a different angle on the news that Shopify has joined OIN. Over the last few years, Shopify has been trying to play a game of catch-up with Amazon, one of its top competitors, which has thousands of patents to its name, the article reports. Intellectual Property (IP) experts such as lawyer Natalie Raffoul have publicly stressed that to stay competitive, Shopify needs to increase its patenting activity, noting that IP should be a priority if Shopify truly wants to play in the global marketplace. Robert Guay, senior counsel of IP at Shopify, said by joining the OIN, the company is committing “to patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent Open Source Software (OSS). We believe that this commitment will promote innovation and help enable entrepreneurs and developers to build on Open Source foundations without focusing on the threat of litigation.