http://etc.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2006/10/27/educause-asks-blackboard-to-drop-patent/ Educational Technology at Bryn Mawr College Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:54:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 http://etc.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2006/10/27/educause-asks-blackboard-to-drop-patent/comment-page-1/#comment-101 Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:44:00 +0000 http://etc.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2006/10/27/educause-asks-blackboard-to-drop-patent/#comment-101 Nice post, Laura. In answer to your question about budding open source systems like Sakai and Moodle decreasing development out of fear of being sued, the answer is a resounding "no way!" We are working with the Software Freedom Law Center to go after this silly patent and remove it and the FUD surrounding it. We think it is a bad patent, invalid on its face, and should never have been granted by the USPTO. See the recent posts on this at (http://sakaiproject.org/bbPatentUpdate1.html). <br/>I also look upon this as an amazing opportunity to educate the higher ed and online learning communities on the problems such patents present and hence applaud your article. I think the next stage of the discussion will really be about what community defense mechanisms we can put in place to protect the free movement of ideas and innovation in our educational software environments. Articles like yours lay the groundwork for this larger discussion. Thanks and keep up the good work. Nice post, Laura. In answer to your question about budding open source systems like Sakai and Moodle decreasing development out of fear of being sued, the answer is a resounding “no way!” We are working with the Software Freedom Law Center to go after this silly patent and remove it and the FUD surrounding it. We think it is a bad patent, invalid on its face, and should never have been granted by the USPTO. See the recent posts on this at (http://sakaiproject.org/bbPatentUpdate1.html).
I also look upon this as an amazing opportunity to educate the higher ed and online learning communities on the problems such patents present and hence applaud your article. I think the next stage of the discussion will really be about what community defense mechanisms we can put in place to protect the free movement of ideas and innovation in our educational software environments. Articles like yours lay the groundwork for this larger discussion. Thanks and keep up the good work.

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