Jack Dorsey’s Square Chooses Non-Aggression Patent Pact With OIN Membership

Continuing in its stride to engender the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general, payment facilitator Square has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN).

Square To Engender OSS Growth

In a Tuesday release, Open Invention Network (OIN) – an organization focused on ensuring open-source software (OSS) – announced the recent addition of Square to its community.

According to OIN, Square’s interest in the foundation shows that it is committed to patent non-aggression in OSS.

The cross-licensing platform boasts major backers like Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Sony, Toyota, and SUSE, enables community members to access patented tech inventions without paying and without the lawsuit.

Commenting on its decision in a Bloomberg special, the US payment giant noted that the step was necessary to avoid the legal challenges that almost toppled the smartphone industry some years earlier.

“We're in just such a rapid time of growth, so many amazing things are happening without patents,” counsel at Square Max Sills noted.

“We want to avoid long-drawn-out legal battles.”

Square is not new to patent alliances and is a front-runner in the blockchain industry’s first Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) formed a year ago. Similar to OIN, member platforms and companies promise not to go the legal route if a fellow member peruses their technology.

Crypto big wigs like Coinbase, Kraken, ARK Investment, SatoshiLabs, and several others have pledged their support for the initiative with the foundation solely focused on engendering blockchain technology.

Square Leaning Towards Crypto, Especially Bitcoin

Although Square has been forthwith in its intent to enable a blockchain-driven society of the future, principal founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has been leaning more on the top premier digital asset. A Bitcoin maximalist, Dorsey has not been shy in publicly supporting the high volatile asset and has added Bitcoin to Square’s corporate treasury.

Not satisfied, the social media owner of Twitter has also sought to engender enterprise adoption via conferences, with the most popular being the B-Word which took place last month.

Also, Square is reportedly weighing up launching a Bitcoin decentralized exchange (DEX) platform. According to the payments giant, users will choose from multiple payment options and exchange their traditional fiat for Bitcoin.

The DEX platform is expected to be managed by the company’s Bitcoin division called TBD. Commenting on the company’s DEX plans, project lead Mike Brock noted that stablecoins – digital assets meant to track fiat currencies – would play a crucial role in supplementing payments on scaling solutions like the Lightning Network.

Also, Square is planning to build a Bitcoin hardware wallet. Following a tweet by head of product development Jesse Dorogusker on making Bitcoin custody more mainstream, Dorsey retweeted with a short reply that Square will build a Bitcoin hardware wallet.