Open Source Strategy Forum 2020

Mr. Bergelt will share how the growing adoption of OSS by developers of FinTech has led to new kinds of innovation. He will discuss a potential impediment to the growth of FinTech OSS – patent lawsuits. He will explain how patent aggression by Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs) and operating companies could slow the progress of OSS code adoption in this sector absent unified support for patent non-aggression which mitigates risk. Mr. Bergelt will discuss the benefits of developing an IP strategy that recognizes the duality occasioned by the implementation of both OSS and proprietary software and the choices involved in safeguarding unique aspects of product differentiation. He will showcase some of the strategies that FinTech-related businesses implement by working through defensive patent management and risk reduction programs authored by entities like RPX, LOTnet, Unified Patents and AST. Finally, Mr. Bergelt will explain how OSS FinTech purveyors and users like Ant Group (host of AliPay mobile payments), Tencent (host of WeChat mobile payments), UnionPay, Ethereum and the Japanese megabank Sumitomo Mitsui are benefiting from patent non-aggression through free membership in OIN.