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.