e-Literate

Present is Prologue

Author: Michael Feldstein

  • Blackboard Patent Celebrity Death Match

    I note with satisfaction that Eben Moglen’s keynote speech [MP3] and debate with Matthew Small [MP3] have already been reported and commented on in a number of places. (See, for example, Seb’s analysis.) This pleases me for two reasons. First, it means we have developed a healthy community response mechanism to make sure we are all informed of future patent shenanigans. The second reason it pleases me is because, frankly, I’m sick of talking about nothing but the patent fight. The Sakai conference, for example, was excellent, and there were many good conversations that I’d much rather blog about (and will blog about in due course). That said, since I was actually in the room for both presentations, I feel obliged to give my own gloss on them.

    Moglen’s keynote was fascinating. The guy is clearly brilliant. While I didn’t agree with everything he had to say, I agreed with much of it and learned much from it. The talk is well worth listening to and well worth sharing with others. Alas, I cannot say that I feel the same way about the debate between Moglen and Small.

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  • Ex Parte and Inter Partes Patent Re-Examination

    As you know by now, the Blackboard patent has been challenged at the USPTO by separate requests filed by the SFLC and D2L respectively. SFLC filed what’s known as an ex parte request, while D2L filed what’s known as an inter partes request. I think it’s important for the community to become familiar with these two strategies because we’re likely to see them employed again in our future. Seb has some nice commentary up about the basics of the specific situation with the Blackboard patent. (Be sure to read the comments; there’s one by one of the leading researchers on patent re-examination.) What follows here is more of a high-level overview of the legal strategies in general.
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  • What the Sakai/Moodle/ATutor Re-Examination Request Really Means

    By now you’ve probably seen that the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed a request to re-examine Blackboard’s patent with the USPTO on behalf of Sakai, Moodle, and ATutor. You may have also seen that D2L has filed a different kind of re-examination request with the USPTO. (SFLC’s request is what’s known as ex parte, while D2L’s is inter partes.) I’ll have more to say about the legal maneuvers in tomorrow’s post. For now, I’d like to address a larger context.

    The Sakai/Moodle/ATutor request is generally being characterized as the “Open Source” response to Blackboard’s patent. This is unfortunate, as is the fact that SFLC is perceived to be leading the charge. Because to my mind, the most important message from this filing to Blackboard and the market has nothing to do with Open Source.

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  • EduPatents Webinar Coming Up

    Stephen Downes and I will be guests on Cable Green’s “TeachU” webinar program on Monday, November 27th starting at 7 PM. The topic is EduPatents: The Gathering Storm. Here’s the summary:

    Your moderator, Cable Green, will be joined by Stephen Downes and Michael Feldstein. The topic will be “EduPatents: The Gathering Storm”.

    Stephen Downes (Canada) and Michael Feldstein (U.S.) discuss the current and long-term implications of the growing number of approved and pending patents on educational software, particularly in the context of Blackboard’s current infringement lawsuit against Desire2Learn. What are the implications of Blackboard’s current patent? How might it affect teachers and students? How are the likely effects different in different countries? And what are the broader implications of an environment of patent litigation for educational software? What is the potential impact of the patent on the e-learning market, and especially Open Source software? What can teachers, administrators, developers, and other stakeholders do?

    My understanding is that Blackboard’s General Counsel Matt Small will be in the audience, so that should add some extra spice to the conversation.

  • A New Job, Part II

    In my last post, I announced that I will be taking a new job at Oracle and explained that the move will not affect my blogging. Now I’d like to take a moment to talk about why I’m so excited about this new opportunity to make a difference in the world of online learning.

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  • A New Job, Part I

    And now for some Big News.

    I am delighted to announce that, effective December 1st, I will begin my new job at Oracle as a Product Manager for their Academic Enterprise Initiative (AEI). (I have previously blogged about AEI in a two–part series.) I want to tell you why I am so excited about this new adventure. But before I do, I first want to tell you how this is going to affect my blogging at e-Literate.

    Short answer: It won’t. (more…)

  • Add This Feed to Your RSS Reader

    Friend, colleague, connoisseur of Swedish schnapps, and Executive Director of Penn State World Campus Ken Udas has started a blog. There are two reasons why this is significant. First, Ken often has novel perspectives on his work, and from the early posts it looks like this blog will be no exception. Second, it’s an official blog on a PSU URL. I would like to see more university executives take the plunge this way. Kudos to Ken for leading the way.

    The RSS feed is here.