VeriSilicon Dai Weimin: RISC-V should learn from the Linux Patent Alliance to protect the interests of relevant companies

Recently, during the third Dishui Lake China RISC-V Industry Forum, Dai Weimin, chairman of the China RISC-V Industry Alliance and founder, chairman and president of VeriSilicon, said that there are currently no patent litigation issues related to RISC-V. But that doesn’t mean patents don’t have risks.

If the RISC-V open source instruction set is a "dictionary", there is no problem with the things taken from the "dictionary", but from the dictionary to articles, there may be infringement issues.

Dai Weimin explained the patent issue with the case of Microsoft and Linux.

In the past, Microsoft, as a typical representative of closed-source companies, frequently picked up patent weapons to attack competitors. Microsoft took a hostile stance toward open source software in the early days because it viewed open source software such as Linux as a threat to commercial software such as Windows. In February 2009, Microsoft sued TomTom, a navigation device manufacturing company, for infringing on a number of its patents. Two of the patents involved the FAT file system, which is used by the Linux kernel including TomTom products. This case is also the first time Microsoft has launched a patent lawsuit against Linux. In March 2009, TomTom agreed to pay Microsoft a patent license fee and quickly reached a settlement with Microsoft. But as the software industry shifts to cloud computing, Microsoft has also changed its attitude toward open source software. Microsoft acquired GitHub, the largest open source software hosting platform, in 2018, and joined the Open Invention Network (OIN, OpenInvention Network) with 60,000 of its patents that year - a defensive patent organization aimed at protecting the free operation of Linux. Pool groups. The establishment of OIN marks the non-infringement and non-litigation between patent alliances. At the same time, it also avoids lawsuits from external companies through grouping.

In order to avoid lawsuits that hinder the healthy development of the RISC-V industry ecology in advance and protect the growth of RISC-V companies, during the 3rd Dishui Lake China RISC-V Industry Forum, the China RISC-V Industry Alliance (CRVIC) invited all RISC-V Enterprises jointly formed the "RISC-V Patent Alliance" to create a non-litigation ecosystem for RISC-V patents and jointly promote the continuous innovation and rapid development of RISC-V technology.

“The establishment of the RISC-V Patent Alliance can also protect related companies from initiating lawsuits. It can also share some patents. In addition, patents can be purchased through various channels. When a member is the defendant, he can help respond to the lawsuit. " Dai Weimin said, "The specific details will continue to be studied, but today (the establishment of the alliance) is an important start. Each alliance member should contribute some patents when joining. With good patents, everyone will have the motivation to join. In addition, we also hope that this matter can be open enough that domestic and foreign organizations can join this alliance.”

RISC-V Patent Alliance Launching Ceremony

The alliance needs to unite the strengths of all parties

The rapid rise of the RISC-V ecosystem is inseparable from alliance members. Since the global RISC-V Foundation was established in 2015, the total number of members has exceeded 4,000. Recently, Qualcomm also announced that it has joined forces with NXP, Bosch, Infineon and other companies to form a chip company specializing in RISC-V architecture. It can be said that both large and small companies and organizations are actively embracing RISC-V. According to statistics, global chip shipments using the RISC-V architecture will exceed 10 billion in 2022, and the value of RISC-V commercialization will become even more prominent.

Tang Wenkan, deputy director of the Shanghai Economic and Information Technology Commission, said: "The industrial development of RISC-V requires the gathering of forces and resources from all parties. We sincerely hope that everyone will cooperate more closely and support the accelerated improvement and development of the RISC-V industry chain."

Calista Redmond, CEO of the RISC-V International Foundation, also encouraged and sincerely called on everyone to actively participate and invest locally in her video speech. She also invited relevant institutions to join the RISC-V International Foundation to jointly establish solid connections and promote long-term A platform for cooperation.

Shanghai has become a RISC-V industrial highland

"In 2018, when RISC-V just started, the country has always advocated independence and control, but our response was slower than India, slower than Russia, and slower than the European Union." Dai Weimin recalled. Many people cannot believe that the instruction set can be freely opened, so many people have doubts. "Shanghai Economic and Information Technology Commission took the lead in issuing policies to support RISC-V. VeriSilicon also took the lead in establishing the China RISC-V Industry Alliance with the recommendation of the Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Association, which has 173 members so far."

Tang Wenkan, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, said: "Shanghai is the first city in my country to support RISC-V. As early as 2017, we supported Shanghai Jiao Tong University to host the 6th RISC-V International Technology Symposium. Our country's first The RISC-V industry organization "China RISC-V Industry Alliance" was also established in Shanghai in 2018. Today's Dishui Lake China RISC-V Forum has been held for three consecutive years starting in 2021. These all reflect Shanghai's commitment to RISC-V. With the support of V, we have always regarded RISC-V as a key cultivation direction and also support the international RISC-V Foundation to hold various industry events in Shanghai.”

Wu Xiaohua, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee of Lingang New Area, emphasized Lingang New Area’s support for RISC-V. He said: “Lingang New Area has always regarded RISC-V and related industries as a key area of ​​support for the development of the Lingang integrated circuit industry. At present, more than 10 RISC-V chip design companies, EDA and IP development companies, and related application companies have gathered. VeriSilicon, the seventh largest IP supplier in the world and the first in Asia, also celebrated its third anniversary on the market. The Lingang R&D Center has been officially launched, focusing on RISC-V related businesses in Lingang.”

Guo Yiwu introduced the work to support RISC-V technological innovation and ecological construction from the Integrated Circuit Association: "Shanghai Integrated Circuit Association has also been actively promoting the development of RISC-V in the domestic market. In September 2018, "China RISC-V "When the Industry Alliance was established", the association also established a RISC-V professional committee to jointly promote RISC-V technological innovation and ecological construction."

At the same time, Guo Yiwu also said: "At the beginning of this month, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office and the Economic and Information Committee jointly issued a document to award the Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Association as the Shanghai Leading Industry Intellectual Property Operation Promotion Center and the integrated circuit project undertaking unit to support the city. The integrated circuit industry will carry out the construction of an intellectual property operation center. In the future, the association will focus on increasing the stability and competitiveness of the integrated circuit industry chain and supply chain. In particular, it will provide strong support to the development of RISC-V patents. Integrate service resources of industry-related intellectual property rights and promote high-quality creation and efficient use of industrial intellectual property rights.”

VeriSilicon and RISC-V industry chain leaders

At this conference, in addition to the launch ceremony of the RISC-V Patent Alliance, another link was the awarding of licenses to VeriSilicon Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., the main enterprise of the RISC-V industry chain in the new area's cutting-edge industry cluster.

As the host of this conference, Peng Jianying, Secretary-General of China RISC-V Industry Alliance and CEO of CoreSilicon Semiconductor Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., said: "The creation of the industrial chain cannot be separated from key leading enterprises. VeriSilicon, as China's RISC-V The leading enterprise in the V industry is an important support for the development of the RISC-V industry in the Lingang New Area and will assume the responsibility of gathering and shaping the industrial chain. "

Wu Xiaohua introduced: "When Secretary Chen Jining investigated VeriSilicon, he fully affirmed VeriSilicon's achievements in RISC-V. At the same time, he requested the Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission and the Lingang Management Committee to evaluate VeriSilicon and We will provide key support for the development of RISC-V in Lingang and Shanghai.”

In fact, VeriSilicon, as a company that relies on its own semiconductor IP to provide customers with platform-based, all-round, one-stop chip customization services and semiconductor IP licensing services, has a unique chip design platform as a service (Silicon Platform as a Service). , SiPaaS) business model, it is very focused on building the industrial chain. In addition to taking the lead in establishing the China RISC-V Industry Alliance and the RISC-V Patent Alliance, it has also done a lot of RISC-V related work.

As a Berkeley alumnus, Dai Weimin highly recognizes the open source spirit. After all, the BSD open source protocol was born in Berkeley, and RISC-V was also born in Berkeley. So when RISC-V started to launch, it attracted Dai Weimin's attention.

Today's Dishui Lake Forum was founded by VeriSilicon based on the Songshan Lake Forum model. In 2011, when the industry had not yet paid attention to domestic independent control, VeriSilicon held the Songshan Lake Forum to focus on discovering and recommending domestic chips. By 2023, it has been held for 13 consecutive years. Now, after three years of hard work, the “Dishui Lake Forum” has become a business card of Lingang.