for the last two years i have written regularly on this blog about the dangers of privatization of education and more particularly about the risk from privately owned technology companies.

And so it has come to pass. Blackboard have announced that it has been issued a U.S. patent for technology used for internet-based education support systems and methods. The patent, they say, covers core technology relating to certain systems and methods involved in offering online education, including course management systems and enterprise e-Learning systems.

Already Blackboard have issued legal action against Canadian company DesiretoLearn, claiming infringement of patent. Obviously this poses a threat to large parts of the Open Source educational technology movement.

I could go on but to be honest I fail to find words which adequately describe such stupidity. See Stephen Downes for a summary of what people are saying.

Two immediate things need to be done. we must put more effort into the campaign against software patents in the European Union. And Blackboard claim to have patents pending in Europe. Does anyone know what this means and if there are ways of opposing them?

Technorati Tags: Copyright, e-learning, no patent law, Open content, Open source