Listen to this articleByteDance is the maker of TikTok, Helo, and Resso, as well as platforms specific to the Chinese market – Toutiao, Douyin, and Xigua. Its mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life by making it easier and rewarding for people to connect with, consume and create content. It is also a huge user and supporter of open source software — OSS.
ByteDance has taken another concrete step to demonstrate its commitment to protecting open source by joining Open Invention Network, the largest patent non-aggression community in history. It is following in the footsteps of Kuaishou Group, which joined the OIN community earlier this year.
“Internet platforms continue to transform the way people, teams and businesses communicate and collaborate. Linux and other open source platforms are the enabling technologies that internet platforms leverage to scale globally,” said Keith Bergelt, CEO of Open Invention Network. “We are glad that ByteDance is looking to do its part to mitigate global patent risk for OSS by joining OIN and demonstrating its commitment to collaborative innovation and patent non-aggression in open source.”
“Through our information platforms people can be more creative and enrich their lives through deeper communications with their friends and family. We view Linux and adjacent open source software as key elements for our business,” said Lynn Wu, Chief IP Counsel at ByteDance. “ByteDance’s participation in the OIN community shows our consistent commitment to shared innovation. We will continue to support it with patent non-aggression in core Linux and other important OSS technologies.”
Funded by Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Sony, SUSE, and Toyota, OIN has more than 3,500 community members. The OIN patent license and member cross-licenses are available royalty-free to any business or organization that joins the OIN community.
OIN’s community practices patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent open source technologies by cross-licensing Linux System patents to one another on a royalty-free basis. Patents owned by Open Invention Network are similarly licensed royalty-free to any organization that agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux System.
