Huawei becomes a licensee member of the Open Invention Network

Huawei has become a licensee member of the Open Invention Network (OIN) the biggest patent non-aggression community in history. The OIN license can be signed online at http://www.j-oin.net/.

As a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices and the first major Chinese company to embrace open-source software (OSS), Huawei is reinforcing its commitment to OSS as an enabler of advanced communications systems.

In October 2019, the company also became a Strategic Member of the Eclipse Foundation, stating: “At Huawei, we prefer to have both open source software and open governance around our projects.”

“Huawei is committed to offering the highest-quality ICT and smart devices. Linux and OSS are critical elements of technologies we are developing and integrating with carriers and enterprises around the globe,” said Jianxin Ding, Head of Global Intellectual Property, at Huawei. “By joining the Open Invention Network, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to innovation, and supporting it with patent non-aggression in Linux and other core open source projects.”

“In addition to being a worldwide technology leader, Huawei is consistently a top contributor to the Linux Kernel, other key open source projects, and is a Platinum member of the Linux Foundation,” said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director at the Linux Foundation. “By joining the Open Invention Network community, Huawei is further demonstrating its strong support for defending open source and open collaboration.”

OIN CEO Keith Bergelt says, “It’s probably one of the top five companies that we have been chasing for quite some time. I think my first conversations with Huawei were nine years ago. Back then Huawei wasn’t doing that much in open source, but in the last six and a half years, Huawei has become very committed to open source and very active as a member of the board of the Linux Foundation. Among equipment suppliers, Huawei has been a model.”

Trade sanctions against Huawei and issues with Google licenses may also be a factor behind the company’s further embrace of open source.

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