Open Invention Network boosts open source prior art in partnership with Software Heritage

For software, patent examiners are challenged in finding prior art because much of it exists outside traditional patent databases. It’s buried in open-source code repositories, developer forums, conference proceedings, and informal technical documentation that examiners rarely have the tools to systematically search. Software concepts also tend to be described in highly variable language, with the same underlying idea appearing under entirely different terms across communities. This makes it easy for examiners to miss directly relevant disclosures even when they exist.

Open Invention Network (OIN), the organization formed to protect the open source community from patent aggressors, has partnered with Software Heritage, the largest public software archive, to make it easier for examiners, law firms, and enterprises to find prior art. Publicly searchable archives and direct links to preserved packages enable developers, researchers, and enterprises to precisely identify the code covered under OIN’s patent cross-license. This enhances confidence in compliance, auditing, and dependency management.

The Linux System definition dates to 2005 and covers more than 900 million lines of code. Because of the sheer amount of software involved, over time, source code will disappear from the internet and from community-maintained records. This highlights the importance of actively preserving the actual source code included in the OIN 2.0 Linux System.

“Software Heritage serves as the steward of a vast repository of the world’s software, including that which is incorporated in OIN’s Linux System,” said Keith Bergelt, CEO at Open Invention Network. “The inventive value of the over 900 million lines of open source code contained in this repository has for years been inaccessible as a source of prior art that, if knowable, could be invaluable in increasing the quality of granted patents. Now with the application of AI to Software Heritage’s comprehensive archive of the world’s software, we have an excellent chance at long last to facilitate the use of machine learning to translate the functional logic of stored code into searchable text and thereby transform the repository into a powerful prior art resource for contesting issued patents and informing the review of new patent applications.”

OIN’s patent risk mitigation framework is now reinforced by verifiable source code, timestamped at the time of preservation, along with provenance information. This alignment provides greater clarity and assurance for adopters, contributors, and legal teams navigating complex OSS environments.

“Preserving the OIN Linux System source code in Software Heritage improves trust, transparency, and long-term access to the software covered by OIN’s comprehensive patent cross-license,” said Roberto Di Cosmo, CEO and founder of Software Heritage. “By ensuring that all OIN 2.0 Linux System tables are systematically archived, we have built and are maintaining a durable, openly accessible record of the evolution of this critical open source infrastructure.”

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