By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: Sakai - Blackboard Patent, Sakai [Edit][Delete] October 20, 2006
Sakai has commented about the Blackboard patent in its most recent newsletter. "We feel this patent is a hindrance to the free flow of innovation and communication in higher education technology." As well, Sakai Board Chair Joseph Hardin wrote to me in an email October 18, "It is important to note that we are working with the Software Freedom Law Center, along with Moodle and ATutor, and the SFLC is rather well known for upholding the interests of open source and free software developers, supporters and users. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Patent Absurdity
This is a good explanation of why software patents, as currently employed in the U.S. and as proposed (repeatedly) for Europe, are such a bad idea. Consider what would happen if they applied to novels. Instead of protecting specific text, the patent would protect, say, "the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and becomes bitter towards society and humankin." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. GSM Association Rejects New DRM Patent License Terms
Just an update on the DRM conflicts taking place at the manufacturer level. In this item, the The GSM Association, a trade association representing wireless carriers, has rejected the revised MPEG-LA royalty schedule (this would license for patents held by ContentGuard and others, and has been widely opposed). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How a 20 Year Old Patent Application Could Up-End Canada’s Biggest Trade Deal
Michael Geist, Aug 05, 2014
Opponents of free trade legislation have long argued that these mechanisms subvert the rule of law in the contracted countries. This has now apparently been proven to be the case in - where else? - patent law. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Supreme Court Strikes a Major Blow for Patent Reform
This is very good news. In a nutshell, the Supreme Court has ruled that a broad and common-sense reading of the word 'obvious' should be used when considering whether a proposed patent is 'obvious'. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. OASIS Patent Policy Sparks Boycott
This was pretty inevitable. "A who's who of the open-source and free-software movements on Tuesday took aim at a leading Web services standards group, escalating pressure for mandatory royalty-free licensing policies with calls for a boycott of its specifications." OASIS does not require that submission be patent-free, which means that companies that use OASIS specifications could at any time be hit with a lawsuit over a previously undisclosed patent. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Further Evidence of Complete Stupidity in the US Patent Office
Stephen Marshall, Stephen's Blog, March 8, 2013
As Stephen Marshall says, "I really wish the trade people discussing the need for stronger intellectual property protection would deal with the problem of stupid patents like this - they would have more credibility in arguing their case if they weren't trying to protect a fundamentally corrupt and broken system." Why the outburst. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. University of Phoenix Online Platform Receives Patent from United States Patent and Trademark Office
University of Phoenix, February 4, 2013
This one passed by last week and I just never got the chance to ake note (I spent most of last week quite under the weather). It's the sort of link I need extra energy to writem, because it's another one of those "the U.S. patent system is broken" links. More...