When I was a poker player in college days, the only table I refused to join was one where a player did not understand the rules. One guy could ruin a game for everyone by doing things so stupid that no one expected them. Which brings me to the U.S. Patent Office.
This morning, Harold Jarche gave me the news that Blackboard has won a patent for the learning management system and sued a major competitor. The breadth of the patent is staggering. It covers:
A course-based system for providing to an educational community of users access to a plurality of online courses, comprising: a) a plurality of user computers, with each user computer being associated with a user of the system and with each user being capable of having predefined characteristics indicative of multiple predetermined roles in the system, each role providing a level of access to a plurality of data files associated with a particular course and a level of control over the data files associated with the course with the multiple predetermined user roles comprising at least two user’s predetermined roles selected from the group consisting of a student role in one or more course associated with a student user, an instructor role in one or more courses associated with an instructor user and an administrator role associated with an administrator user, and b) a server computer in communication with each of the user computers over a network, the server computer comprising: means for storing a plurality of data files associated with a course, means for assigning a level of access to and control of each data file based on a user of the system’s predetermined role in a course; means for determining whether access to a data file associated with the course is authorized; means for allowing access to and control of the data file associated with the course if authorization is granted based on the access level of the user of the system.
Michael Feldstein reported this in his blog a week ago but it didn’t make waves. Maybe it was too big a nightmare for SumTotal, Saba, Plateau, and their brethren to think about. I imagine they are all in line for extortion, Ã la Blackberry.
This reminds me of the story about the fellow who buys a bronze statue of a rat in an antique store. The shopkeeper warns the buyer that the statue carries a curse but the guy buys it anyway.A few steps out the door, he sees a rat following him. It’s joined by another. Two blocks later, fifty rats are chasing him down the street. Soon there are hundreds of rats. The guy runs to the bridge and throws the statue in the river. Every rat jumps in the river after it and drowns.
The fellow returns to the antique shop. The shopkeeper says, “No, you can’t have your money back. I told you that statue was cursed. You didn’t heed my warning….”
“That’s not why I’m here,” said the buyer. “I just want to know if you have a statue of a lawyer.”
By the way, I’m filing a patent on learning. It’s a process by which the brain of a human being connects neural pathways in response to outside stimuli. The patent includes, ipso facto, hearing, sight, smell, taste, talking and feeling. If you don’t cease learning immediately, you will hear from my attorney, ab abusu ad usum non valet consequentia, ab irato, et audentes fortuna iuvat.
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“IÂ’m proposing we set up an online group that will help coordinate countermeasures against BlackboardÂ’s patents, and coordinate support for any organisation against whom Blackboard attempts legal action.”
Check out http://blackfate.wikispaces.com/Join+WITE
Sorry to inform You, Jay, but I’ve already patented “Thinking” which clearly includes “Learning”. Being a nice guy I grant You the right to “think” if You include me as co-author of Your three next book projects. The right to “think” is only granted for thinking about the book projects. Apart from that, just stare and don’t think.
It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? See You at this year’s Online Educa in Berlin, let’s visit the Blackboard booth there and organize a Flashmob to do some interesting stuff there.
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As an easy gesture for del.icio.us users to note prior art may I suggest using the tag ” vle/prior-art ” perhaps following it with a date tag “19** ” Items thus tagged may be tracked and found by everyone.
Al
Just wanted to let you know that I am actually patenting the patent process so that anyone seeking a patent will have to be licensed by me.
Well said Jay — as I said in my blog post, this is one of those “give me a break” moments and I love the way you put it.
Hope to see you in Denver at the Training Solutions Conference in October.
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You guys all can do what you like around this patenting question (patenting learning, thinking or even patenting the patenting-process).
It’s not worth anything in the end, because all your earned money from silly licenses (and this is what patenting is all about) is nothing of any long lasting worth after the next hyperinflation rolled across the globalized planet, but my individuality, ideas and creativity are. Isn’t it interesting, that by patenting thinking you could virtually stop all thinking which is not licensed (aka paid with money)? This must have been the ultimate idea behind “1984″. Why try to change language or try to patent language if you can patent thinking? Why not just exchange the abstract word of “patenting” by the word “controlling” or “allowing”? This would reveal its true meaning!
regards,
helge
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Actually, I thought I would patent breathing, swallowing, farting and excreting. That way I would make a fortune on the crap, hot air, gulping and sharp intakes of breath caused by the reaction of total stunned incredulity to the Blackboard scenario, quite apart from the fortune I would make on just everyone living a normal life before Blackboard was ever thought of…. or was it? Surely it was copied from its many precursors????? I was doing all of what it says in the patent application in the ’70s. Wasn’t everyone????
DW.
Afterthought:
And by the way…. It’s not that good a product anyway.
DW.
In my opinion, allegedly, in case they sue me.
DW.
Haha. I wanted to get a patent on learning!
hi jay,
two things: first, i’d love to talk to you about e-learning usability (unrelated to this post, but i couldn’t get your contact form to work).
second, we’ve actually been approached by a company that has an equally ridiculious patent (i read the blackboard post) on delivering multimedia content to learners and reporting on progress to educators.
i’d love to see what you think about it.
peter
Why aren’t I astounded?
Sorry, got to go. I have to patent a “learner learnt recovery tool” so all that money, earned as a result of knowledge ,can be redistributed to the rightful owners of that knowledge.
Maybe we’ll be able to sue our parents if we don’t have enough coded knowledge to begin with.
The mind boggles?