Google's "Don't sue first" policy

So, if you followed me from way back on the other blog, you know that I used to write a weekly series of articles on the whole #Patentfun scenario that goes on with these companies these days.

The latest being that the $1 billion 'fine' against Samsung was marked down, but now Apple's saying it erred that re-decision by about $85 million...

It's all ludicrous - and too insane to get into these days.  However, there's something new coming out of Google on patents.  We've been long expecting Google to come to the screaming defense of its handset partners to squash the Apple-insanity of "litigate before innovate", but that hasn't happened.

What has happened is they've made a line in the sand.

Essentially, Google has said "we will not sue you, ... unless you sue us first".

(note, that that's not a direct quote)

This was kind of expected since Motorola Mobility was acquired by Google.  Being now somewhat directly involved in that arena meant they would have to wade into the patent wars at some point.  Up until now, they've been pretty silent.  Also odd is how Apple only attacks the manufacturers implementing Android, and not the designers of Android directly... anyhow - the line in the sand is drawn.  Google is saying they're going to allow competition, except when they were attacked first.

The Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge:

Taking a stand on open source and patents

At Google we believe that open systems win. Open-source software has been at the root of many innovations in cloud computing, the mobile web, and the Internet generally. And while open platforms have faced growing patent attacks, requiring companies to defensively acquire ever more patents, we remain committed to an open Internet—one that protects real innovation and continues to deliver great products and services.

Today, we’re taking another step towards that goal by announcing the Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge: we pledge not to sue any user, distributor or developer of open-source software on specified patents, unless first attacked.

We’ve begun by identifying 10 patents relating to MapReduce, a computing model for processing large data sets first developed at Google—open-source versions of which are now widely used. Over time, we intend to expand the set of Google’s patents covered by the pledge to other technologies.

We hope the OPN Pledge will serve as a model for the industry, and we’re encouraging other patent holders to adopt the pledge or a similar initiative. We believe it has a number of advantages:

• Transparency. Patent holders determine exactly which patents and related technologies they wish to pledge, offering developers and the public transparency around patent rights.
• Breadth. Protections under the OPN Pledge are not confined to a specific project or open- source copyright license. (Google contributes a lot of code under such licenses, like the Apache or GNU GPL licenses, but their patent protections are limited.) The OPN Pledge, by contrast, applies to any open-source software—past, present or future—that might rely on the pledged patents.
• Defensive protection. The Pledge may be terminated, but only if a party brings a patent suit against Google products or services, or is directly profiting from such litigation.
• Durability. The Pledge remains in force for the life of the patents, even if we transfer them.

Our pledge builds on past efforts by companies like IBM and Red Hat and the work of the Open Invention Network (of which Google is a member). It also complements our efforts on cooperative licensing, where we’re working with like-minded companies to develop patent agreements that would cut down on lawsuits.

And, in addition to these industry-driven initiatives, we continue to support patent reforms that would improve patent quality and reduce excessive litigation.

We hope the OPN Pledge will provide a model for companies looking to put their own patents into the service of open-source software, which continues to enable amazing innovation.

By Duane Valz, Senior Patent Counsel