The OpenChain Japan Work Group will host its 15th meeting (2nd virtual) at 2pm local time on the 18th of June. Everyone is welcome to attend. The majority of the meeting will be held in Japanese but foreign guests can ask questions or share news in English.
Review the Slides
Join the Meeting via Zoom
Learn More About Japan Work Group Activities
The OpenChain China Work Group will host its fourth meeting at 3pm Beijing time on the 17th of June. This meeting will feature three guest speakers.
Agenda
This meeting will be held in English and will be held under Chatham House Rule.
Join the Meeting via Zoom
Meeting ID: 999 012 0120
Password: 123456
The OpenChain Korea Work Group will hold its 6th meeting via UberConference on the 16th of June at 2pm Seoul time. This event will be held in the Korean language and will provide an excellent opportunity to learn what companies like Kakao and SK Telecom are doing around open source compliance.
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Numbers, a company based in Taiwan with a mission to create an open, transparent and traceable data system, is the latest organization to announce an OpenChain conformant program. This is a timely engagement, as Numbers focuses on annotating, tracking, and certifying the origins of digital data, starting with user-generated content, a leading source of misinformation.
“With the rise of incredible communication technology we have also seen a rise in misinformation,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. “Organizations are creating new ways to assess and address these concerns, and it is heartening to see companies like Numbers electing to also embed themselves into broader industry best practices around matters like compliance.”
Learn More About Numbers
On the 13th of June at 15:00 local time, SZ Lin, the OpenChain Project governing board member for MOXA, will deliver a talk at HKOSCon 2020 about how Civil Infrastructure (electrical and power grids, railway, shipping, and transportation systems, and so on) intersects neatly with OpenChain and structured, repeatable compliance processes.
Learn More and Be Part of the Event
The OpenChain Project and its collaboration with the Joint Development Foundation was explored during a session at the ISO WG21 2020 Plenary on the 9th of June. Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager, lead the primary discussion and Seth Newberry, General Manager of Standards at Joint Development Foundation, explained the JDF PAS approach both in terms of OpenChain and more broadly in the years ahead.
Special thanks are due to Trent Allgood and Ron Brill of WG 21 for facilitating this session and helping to build new avenues of collaboration around standardization moving forward.
Review the Slides
Note
The full name of WG 21 is ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG21 – IT Asset Management, abbreviated above for brevity.
OpenChain Japan WGのアドベントカレンダー、本日は13記事目になります。本アドベントカレンダーは、OSSコンプライアンスに関わる取り組み「OpenChain」プロジェクトの日本ワーキンググループのメンバーが日替わりで記事を書いています。
参考：FacebookやGoogleも参加するOSSコンプライアンスのプロジェクト、「OpenChain」とは
今回は「OSSの利用に伴う特許侵害リスク」について書いてみたいと思います。（セキュリティの話も一緒に書こうと思ったんですが構成がうまくまとまらず…今回は特許の話に特化して書かせていただきます）
国内外のIT関連分野について、特許や現地メディアを通じて技術動向の調査をしたり、それらをまとめた記事を書いたりしています。
OpenChain Japanは2019年夏に存在を知って、全体会合に一度参加しただけのまだまだ初心者です。OpenChain Japanでは、OpenChainやOSSコンプライアンスの普及を担うPromotionグループに参加しています。
あるOSSが第三者の特許権を侵害している場合、OSSの提供元だけでなくそのOSSを利用した製品やサービスも特許権侵害の対象となります。つまり、損害賠償金を請求されたり、特許ライセンス費用を要求されたりする可能性があります。
過去には、スマホ用OSとしてOSSの代表格であるAndroidが特許権侵害をしているとして、提供元のGoogleだけでなくAndroidスマホの開発企業が訴えられる事例も発生しています。
Microsoft、Android端末の特許侵害でMotorolaを提訴
Android関連の特許訴訟が相次いだGoogleは、上記ニュースでも話題になっているモトローラを買収。その後、多くの特許を保有したまま携帯事業部門を中国・レノボに売却したことから、訴訟に耐えうる特許取得が目的の企業買収と話題になりました。
・モトローラ買収とグーグルの法的戦略の方向性–特許ポートフォリオ強化に至る背景
特許によってOSSの円滑な利用が阻害される状況を懸念して、その問題を解決しようとするコミュニティ活動も同時に始まりました。今回はその1つとして「Open Invention Network（OIN）
」およびその関連組織である「Linux Defenders」の活動を紹介します。
OINは「OSSに関する特許のクロスライセンス」を促進するコミュニティ活動です。
OINはLinuxに関連する特許を保有し、「Linux関連技術を利用する企業に特許訴訟を行わないこと（自社特許を開放すること）」に同意した参加企業に対して無償でライセンス提供を行います。2018年にはマイクロソフトがOINに参加、OSSと特許訴訟を巡る状況の1つの転換点となりました。
マイクロソフト、オープンソース特許ネットワーク（OIN）に加盟、特許6万件を開放
さらに、OSSに関して不当な特許が発生するリスクを減らすべく、OINの下部組織として「Linux Defenders」という活動が行われています。
主な取り組みとしては
Defensive Publications：既存の技術を積極的に公開し、不当な特許の成立を防ぐ材料とする
Prior Art Activities：特許審査が適切に行われるように関連技術資料を提供、OSSコミュニティのリスクとなる特許の再審査を推進
などがあります。
知財部門の仕事の1つとして、「自社の事業を円滑に進めるために、他社の特許にどう対処するか」が挙げられます。
「他社の特許を調査して、問題となる特許を把握する」「問題となる特許について回避方法を検討する、無効化を仕掛ける」「回避案が見つからないときのために、他社との交渉材料となる特許を仕込んでおく」といった業務が中心になりますが、今後はそれらに加えてこういったコミュニティ活動への対応も必要になっていきます。
ウェブサービスやスマホアプリだけでなく、家電や自動車など全てのものにソフトが組み込まれる時代。OSSの導入はますます加速していきます。
エンジニアだけではなく知財関係者など様々な専門家がOSSコミュニティに貢献していくことが、国や企業の競争力に繋がっていく（そして、その人自身のキャリアにも繋がっていく）。そんな時代になっていくのかなと最近考えています。
p.s.
OpenChain Japan内で知財関連のワーキンググループが出来たらぜひ参加したいと思ってます。
明日は本記事内で紹介した資料の作成者でもあるトヨタ自動車の遠藤さんが担当。自動車業界でのOSSコンプライアンスをテーマとして2019年7月に設立されたOpenChain Automotive WGについて紹介いただく予定です。
Fujitsu, an OpenChain Platinum Member, is the first organization to attain two OpenChain 2.0 conformant programs. Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 132,000 Fujitsu personnel support customers in more than 100 countries.
Fujitsu’s Software Business Unit established the first OpenChain 2.0 conformant program in November 2019. Today the Platform Software Business Unit unveils a sister activity and represents the second conformant program. These developments underline how the OpenChain industry standard provides a solution for multinationals seeking effective, efficient open source compliance management.
Fujitsu’s two conformant programs include over 2,000 staff members and constitute one of the largest open source compliance activities in the world. The adoption and increased use of the OpenChain industry standard is a clear and unambiguous example of Fujitsu’s commitment to continually improving processes that support the development and deployment of open source software.
“OpenChain conformance shows that a program inside a company has adopted the key requirements of a quality open source compliance program using the framework of our industry standard,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. “Fujitsu is now demonstrating how this process can be rolled out to multiple business units in a large company. Acting as both a pioneer and an inspiration, Fujitsu is helping to lead the OpenChain industry standard further into the heart of global IT activity.”
“Fujitsu has been a long supporter of open source communities and valued open source compliance. Continuous evolution of OpenChain Conformance demonstrates our commitment to open source compliance”, says Hayakawa Eiji, Head of Open Source Software Technology Center, Fujitsu Limited. “Following the conformance of Software Business Unit, we kept on working OpenChain conformance process with Platform Software Business Unit, which has long made collaborations and contributions with open source communities and the Linux Foundation. Led by open source specialists in Open Source Software Technology Center and licensing compliance specialists in Intellectual Property Innovation Department, we reached conformance for the second Business Unit and for more than 2,000 employees”
About the OpenChain Project
The OpenChain Project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements. The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.
About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.
The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Media Contacts
Shane Coughlan
+818040358083
coughlan@linux.com
The OpenChain Reference Tooling Work Group held its 16th meeting on the 3rd of June.
You can find the recording of the session as well as the presentation slides here:
Catch up on minutes from all previous meetings
Cisco Systems, Inc (Cisco), a Platinum Member of the OpenChain Project, today announces conformance with the industry standard for open source compliance in the supply chain. As a founding member of the OpenChain Project, Cisco has been instrumental in defining, developing and deploying both the standard and its extensive corpus of reference material. Their conformance marks another milestone in the broadening adoption of the standard throughout silicon, embedded, mobile, telecommunications, enterprise, software and cloud market segments.
“It is hard to overstate the important of this announcement,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. “Over the past three years Cisco has helped to transform the way we can do compliance across complex supply chains. Leading by example, Samantha and her team have taken this opportunity to seek solutions that provide a high return on investment through efficient use of people and time. With OpenChain set to become an ISO standard in the near future, we look forward to continued collaboration and in supporting the broader community seeking excellence in open source governance.”
“Cisco is truly honored to be part of such an important team with the OpenChain Project. The industry collaboration, synergies and betterment for our open chain community is revolutionary. We are equally pleased to announce our conformance to this industry standard, as it enables our internal teams to understand ‘why’ behind the compliance rigor. Having established internal policies, processes and tooling automation, which can be measured and benchmarked with OpenChain is one of our major value drivers. We look forward to continuing our partnership with OpenChain Projects and our peer industry partners, as software innovates for years to come.” Samantha Elliott, Open Source Leader.
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow’s digital opportunity today. Discover more at newsroom.cisco.com and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco. RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/rss-feeds
About the OpenChain Project
The OpenChain Project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements. The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.
About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.
The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Media Contacts
Shane Coughlan
+818040358083
scoughlan@linuxfoundation.org
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