As a founding member of the eSTART Coalition in 2024, Carvana has been an integral part of the auto industry’s work to modernize the vehicle title and registration process over the last two years.

And now, the online used-car retailer is also aiming to help tackle what it considers another key component of technological innovation: protecting against “abusive patent practices” and emphasizing open innovation.

Carvana said Wednesday it has joined the LOT Network, which is a consortium focused on “protecting innovation by deterring frivolous litigation from patent assertion entities,” the company said in a news release.

The majority of Carvana’s technology is developed in-house, the company said. That includes things like purchase platforms, logistics automation, vehicle reconditioning and more.

By joining LOT Network, Carvana said it can put its work and investment toward improving the customer experience, “rather than defending against baseless demands from patent-assertion entities,” it said.

“Intellectual property rights matter deeply to us as a patent holder,” Carvana general counsel Paul Breaux said in a news release. “But abuse of the patent system by non-practicing entities discourages the innovations we and so many other companies work hard to develop.

“By joining LOT Network, we are protecting the solutions our teams create so we can focus on what matters most: our customers and further improving the car buying and selling experience.”

There are more than 5,600 members of LOT Network located in 56 countries. Members span various industries, but examples of automotive members include Hyundai, Ford, Toyota, Tesla