International Characters is a technology development company based on a new and unique business model that combines an open source philosophy with a principled approach to patent-based protection of intellectual property.

Fundamentally, International Characters is about open technology development. Rather than rely on proprietary development of trade-secret technologies kept to ourselves, we seek to develop technologies in open collaboration with others. We develop and publish software technology as open source software under Open Software License 3.0. We document and publish technology concepts as research publications under a Creative Commons License. We actively seek technology partners who will work with us in developing commercial applications of open technologies.

However, we also seek to avoid the largest business risk associated with open technology development: the exploitation of our very openness by proprietary competitors. Where we or our development partners have identified innovative and patentable technologies, we seek patent protection for those technologies to preserve the business value for ourselves and our partners.