Open source community launches peer-to-patent project

Open Invention Network, the Software Freedom Law Center and the Linux Foundation launched the Linux Defenders programme last week by to increase patent quality for software inventions and reduce litigation.

By soliciting prior art to aid in the rejection of poor-quality patent applications and the invalidation of poor-quality issued patents, as well as preparing defensive publications for high-quality software inventions, the programme hopes to “benefit open source innovation by significantly reducing the number of poor quality patents that might otherwise be used by patent trolls or strategics”, said Keith Bergelt, CEO of Open Invention Network.

The programme is similar to the peer-to-patent pilot launched by the USPTO and the Community Patent Review Project in June 2007. That project opens the patent examination process to the public by inviting “community reviewers” to submit prior art for patent applications in the fields of computer architecture, software and information security, business methods and e-commerce.

Both programmes show a move toward exploiting the reach of the internet to harness public knowledge, also known as crowdsourcing. Some crowdsourcing projects, such as Article One Partners, which was launched in November, offer participants substantial monetary rewards for information leading to the invalidation of a patent.

An “advisor” with Article One Partners who is the first to submit invalidating prior art for a patent study receives $50,000.

Critics of crowdsourcing projects maintain that such programmes complicate and further slow the patent approval process. A report published in June revealed that the USPTO’s peer-to-patent programme failed to bring in new patent applications in its first year.