Blackboard patents in Europe?
03-August-2006
permalink comments (1) forum (1) email this- EP1192615
- FFII
- Permanent link to the press release
- Community Patent analysis:
- Provisional patent publication EP0717354: Data transfer with expanded clipboard formats (Microsoft)
- TBA decision T 0424/03 - 3.5.01 on "Clipboard formats I/MICROSOFT"
- Answer by the Commission (18 May 2006)
- Question by Adam Gierek MEP (13 April 2006)
- here
- application
- press statement
- latest post
The Blackboard issue isn't going to go away.
For a quick round up of global edu-bloggers reaction see Stephen's latest post on the subject.
Now what about the situation in Europe? Blackboard's press statement claims patents are "pending" in the European Union.
The application can be found on the European Patent Office database and is indeed marked as pending. Since I posted this the html copy of the document has disappeared. you can now download it as a PDF here.
But now things start getting very murky. Firstly what can be done to oppose an application? It is hard to find any information on the EPO website.
However more can be discovered on the Gaus wiki which appears to be based on a project aiming to make patent applications more transparent. The Blackboard application can be found on the Gaus site here.
Gaus explains the status of an application as follows:
- A patent starts its life as an pending application.
- The applicant can at any time choose to withdraw the application.
- The EPO can choose to reject an application.
- Or EPO can choose to grant an application
- An appeal or opposition procedure can be commenced within the first 9 months after the patent is granted (grantedrecent)
- After 9 months the opposition procedure is only possible at national courts. At this time the patent is GrantedOld
- Patents that are currently under appeal are BeingAppealed as opposed to patents that were appealed at some time.
- EPOs appeal court can choose to revoke a granted patent after an opposition.
- Or EPOs appeal court can choose to maintain the granted patent.
So far so good. But now it gets more complicated. Firstly the European Parliament rejected attempts to introduce software patents, although it is a fairly safe bet to suggest the European commission will try again at some point. Secondly, there is doubt over the legislative status of the European Patent Office and whether it is able to impose patents on European Member States. This is very messy. For more information follow these links.
- Question by Adam Gierek MEP (13 April 2006)
- Answer by the Commission (18 May 2006)
- TBA decision T 0424/03 - 3.5.01 on "Clipboard formats I/MICROSOFT"
- Provisional patent publication EP0717354: Data transfer with expanded clipboard formats (Microsoft)
- Community Patent analysis:
- Permanent link to the press release
Links come courtesy of the FFII . The FFII is a not-for-profit association registered in twenty European countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, open standards.
Finally if you want to check with your own patent offices regarding Blackboard applications the European application number is EP1192615 - though a search on the UK patent office merely throws up the EPO application.
I am not a legal expert - any clarifications would be very welcome.
Technorati Tags: blackboard, patents
1 Replies (comments)
1 LMS Patents
The positive responses I have heard and read so far as:
1. It provides us with the opportunity to finally abandon the largely defunct model of educational delivery that is the LMS. This will leave any patent holder with a nice expensive piece of paper.
2. We can all evaluate what we have and have been trying to create. This was and is a massive global community development story. We get the incentive to put some of the pieces together and acknowledge all those that helped along the way. And in the process prove the prior art that will render Blackboard's patent worthless.
That said, this isn't going to be a pleasant time. Blackboard themselves are on an agressive expansion program. They have been scouting recently for a new head of operations in the UK (which I decided not to apply for based on wider concerns about their profile). They are looking, from what I can see, on moving more of their products into secondary schools.
There is a healthy discussion already over on one of the Moodle forums. Obviously these people have good reason to be concerned. As I am sure you are with all the effort you have put into KnowNet technology.
I think the prior art in the UK is simple overwhelming. Their patent dates to 2000. By then everyone and anyone had developed their own LMS systems along the lines they discuss. One system that sticks in my mind is the TACO project over at the University of London. That dates from at least 1997, with development much earlier. Their database schema was well documented so Blackboard's patent claiming they invented role-based access to courses is truly laughable.
Anyway, let's just do what we can and get the positives from this.
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