Recently, OpenAI quietly issued a statement on its official website, promising not to use its patents in an infringing manner. OpenAI stated that they will adhere to the principles of "broad access" and "collaboration," emphasizing that they will "only use patents for defensive purposes." However, this commitment has raised doubts among many experts.
According to OpenAI's statement, they will only use their patents defensively if other parties do not threaten, assert claims, initiate lawsuits, or assist others in such activities. Their wording seems to suggest that they may take action if any behavior harms the company or its users, which confuses many people because the definition of "defensive" is unclear.
Mike Borella, a partner at MBHB, said that OpenAI's commitment is quite vague compared to IBM's promise to open-source software manufacturers in 2005. Borella believes that the last sentence could be interpreted as potentially affecting all competitors in the market and those who make fair criticisms of ChatGPT's flaws.
Additionally, Borella mentioned that OpenAI's patent portfolio is not particularly rich, and the company's intellectual property strategy relies more on trade secrets, such as confidential training data and methods. Although patent applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office are typically published 18 months after submission, OpenAI currently holds only a few patents.
More importantly, OpenAI's patent commitment is just a promise, lacking legal enforceability, and cannot be enforced like a contract or warranty. Shubha Ghosh, a professor of intellectual property law at Syracuse University, pointed out that OpenAI can still protect its rights based on copyright, trade secrets, or contract law. Therefore, if OpenAI violates this commitment, such as by filing patent infringement lawsuits against other companies or individuals, they would only lose their reputation temporarily.
Borella referred to OpenAI's statement as a "nice PR slogan," believing it is an attempt to appease the tech community and regulatory bodies, similar to Tesla's vague patent commitment in 2014. Overall, Borella thinks this declaration is merely a "paper tiger," unable to effectively promote healthy market competition.
Key Points:
1. 📜 OpenAI promises to use patents defensively only, but its definition is vague, leading to expert skepticism.
2. 🏛️ OpenAI's patent portfolio is relatively sparse, relying more on trade secrets.
3. ⚖️ The commitment lacks legal binding force, and OpenAI can still protect its rights through other laws.