GNOME Fights Back Against Patent Troll and Finds Allies

GNOME and OIN Join Forces in Defending Against Patent Troll RPI

The GNOME Foundation (“GNOME”), a leading open-source and Linux non-profit group, has been sued by Rothschild Patent Imaging (“RPI”) for allegedly violating an RPI patent for “wireless image distribution system and method patent.”  RPI claims that GNOME violated U.S. Patent No. 9,936,086 and is asking for the removal of the functionality from GNOME’s “Shotwell” application, or for a running royalty from the time of judgment going forward instead. 

Why RPI Has Been Deemed a Patent Troll to Defend Against

Critics of the lawsuit have called RPI a patent troll, noting that RPI is a non-practicing entity that has filed 714 patent-related lawsuits in the last six years, and that the patent creator, Leigh Rothchild, has filed the single largest number of lawsuits at 141.  While, at first blush, many may dismiss the idea that the lawsuit could be successful due to the sheer number of photo applications that currently boast this functionality, experts in the field note that RPI’s patent claims in the patent have been so broadly written that courts could be swayed by RPI’s argument.

Though many experts have said that it is difficult to determine which way a court or jury would rule, the general consensus in the field has been to question whether RPI has simply made a colossal blunder by filing suit against a popular non-profit, which likely has little assets and potentially no insurance to cover any court judgment found against them.  As such, many speculate that RPI could simply have been assuming that with little assets, GNOME would quickly settle and agree to pay money for a license, which RPI could later use as future leverage against other companies.  

GNOME Finds Help to Defend Against Patent Troll

Instead, now that GNOME has decided to fight back, the suit could quickly become a public relations nightmare for RPI, especially as GNOME has found some powerful allies in its fight against RPI.  Currently, GNOME has filed three legal defenses in answer to RPI's claims: 1) a motion to dismiss; 2) an answer to the claim; and 3) a counterclaim.  

Announced at the Open Source Summit Europe, the Open Invention Network (“OIN”), a pro-Linux consortium that preaches patent non-aggression, announced that it would use its own legal resources to not only help GNOME in its legal dispute with RPI, but to also search for prior art that could be used to invalidate RPI’s patent altogether.  OIN’s chief executive officer, Keith Bergelt, even used his keynote speech at the Open Source Summit Europe in France to call RPI a “bad company,” whose actions slowed innovation and used settlements to intimidate others into settling.

GNOME believes that OIN’s help of providing prior art evidence will help GNOME not only defend against the lawsuit but send a message to RPI that it cannot be bullied into settlements.

OIN Turns Focus on Preventing the Stifling of Innovation and Fighting Patent Trolls

Motivated by the fight between GNOME and RPI, OIN has also said that it will begin to focus more on combating such legal lawsuits.  While OIN originally was created to focus its efforts against companies “whose behaviors were antagonistic to Linux,” it says that its success in promoting open source has allowed it to now pivot to fighting patent trolls.  OIN has said that the future holds promise as it will soon announce a partnership with two well-known companies that will allow it to further attack patent trolls and invalidate more weakly-issued patents.

Ways OIN is Leading the Way in Defending Against Patent Trolls

The ever-present patent trolls refuse to go away, but as patent trolls attack high-profile non-profits such as GNOME, allies have joined the fight to defend open-source non-profits by:

  • seeking to invalidate weak patents to avoid future misuse;

  • deterring patent trolls from pursuing action against other open-source companies;

  • bringing negative public attention to patent trolls; and

  • promoting and encouraging continued innovation and promulgation of open-source coding.


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