Episode 7: Red Hat – Stewarding Open Source
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Introduction
Episode 7 of the LexisNexis Evolving IP podcast features David Perry of Red Hat. In this episode, we meet with David to explore how open source and IP fit together. We also discuss the community around open source innovation and how IP teams need to protect their organizations from more sophisticated players.
David discusses the Red Hat business model and the Red Hat Promise. He also looks to the future on how AI and Gen AI will evolve.
Podcast Host
- Francesca Levoir, Head of Brand Strategy and Solutions Marketing
Expert
- Nigel Swycher, Strategic Advisor at LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions
Conversation Highlights
Red Hat – an untraditional approach to IP in Open Source?
We don’t use IP in the traditional sense of trying to monetize it or assert intellectual property. We use it a lot as a shield to mitigate IP risk. The use of IP and IPs role at an open source company like Red Hat is unique. Part of the reason for Red Hat success as an open source enterprise company is because of the close relationship we have the community. We have to convince the community that we are going to treat IP in a certain way and not overstep in terms of its treatment. And so we do things like the Red Hat patent promise. The promise guarantees that any Red Hat invention is not going to be asserted against any open source projects.
Does the Red Hat promise turn IP on its head?
The Red Hat patent promise is that Red Hat will not assert any patents against any open source project, full stop. The reason it doesn’t destroy the portfolio is that the threats we face are not from open source projects. The reason we have an IP portfolio is to protect ourselves against predators, who aren’t part of the open invention network or otherwise seems to do us harm with their patents.
IP risk is not going away but is getting more sophisticated
The risk now, from an IP assertion perspective, is primarily from litigation financed organizations. We’re talking about litigation financed IP assertions, which have become more funded and frankly, more of a threat.
I think they’re becoming more sophisticated. It’s not just patent engineers who are doing the analysis anymore with investment firms, private equity, or from other parts of the world. You now have very sophisticated financial players who are used to running these models. Therefore we need to up our game on the defensive side, and get more sophisticated about the investments we’re making. And so I think it’s a a wake up call for IP Council everywhere to better operate in a private equity backed world.
What does the future hold?
“You look at Gen AI, there’s a dispute now about what everyone wants to be called open source AI, or what open means in AI. Whereas open source used to be a negative, or it was kind of this quirky, quirky development model. Now everyone wants to be open source in the Gen AI context. I am optimistic that all the important players and all the folks in Gen AI are committed to a much more open, shared development model, where we take IP risk off and maybe come up with a solution that allows that to thrive.”
David’s key takeaway
“Open source and IP are not in tension. They, in fact, stand hand in hand. And my experience at Red Hat has has been that you can embrace open source intellectual property as a risk mitigation tool. My experience with Red Hat has also been that they not in tension. They’re actually a catalyst for one another. As we enter this new world of Gen AI, this question of how open source supports IP, and how IP supports open source, continue to be even more important than it ever has been. ”
Nigel ‘s key takeaway
“It’s 25 years since the Initial Public Offering of Red Hat, a pioneer in the development of business models around open source software. And just over five years since IBM acquired Red Hat for $34B. That’s a lot to take in. But at the core, Red Hat epitomizes the evolution of IP. How copyright and patents can be turned on their head to enable, not restrict, competition. This caused significant disruption to the proprietary business models that prevailed in the 20th Century. This also manifested as risk for those who challenged the status quo.
We have the open source pioneers to thank for organizations such an Open Invention Network, the LOT Network, and RPX. These building risk mitigation organizations handle antagonists who at one time would have been perfectly happy for open source to go away
Thank you David for your stewardship across many of these organizations and for the robust defense open source. Without such leadership, without the success of open-source, much of today’s technology innovation would simply have been lost to the world.”