After promising to wait for Al’s analysis before publishing mine, I mistook his initial post for his final word and jumped the gun. Al’s own blow-by-blow analysis is up now. As you’ll see, we’re in pretty close agreement on it.
Tag: Alfred-Essa
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(Almost) Back in the Saddle Again
Well, after a week of being crushed in moving boxes, I’ve managed to dig out enough to find my computer. Lucky for me Al Essa posted a week-in-review summary of the Blackboard EduPatentGate drama that helped me get back up to speed. Al has been doing a fantastic job of attacking the problem from a number of different angles. If you care about this issue and haven’t yet subscribed to his feed, you really should.
I’m working on some follow-up regarding the impact of patents on standards development and have should that plus at least a few other posts up this week, with the goal of getting back to normal by the beginning of next week. So stay tuned. In the meantime, you might enjoy reading a piece on EduPatentGate from Justin Pope at the Associated Press. Here it is on ABC News’ web site. Business Week, the Washington Post, and USAToday have also picked it up so far.
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Tim O'Reilly Picks Up the Blackboard Story
Word keeps spreading in successively broader circles.
Meanwhile, if you are following this issue and have not yet subscribed to Al Essa’s blog, do yourself a favor and do so right away. His series of posts dissecting the patent continue to edify.
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The Blackboard Patent Crisis at Two and a Half Weeks
While marveling the events of the last several weeks, Jim Farmer suggested that it might be worthwhile to pause and reflect back on the sequence of events. I thought that was a good idea, so here it is. I don’t claim that it is any sense a definitive history. To the contrary, it’s just my personal experience of the situation. But it taught me something, so I thought it might be worth sharing. (more…)
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Conversation with My Own Imaginary Spinmeister
Me: Blackboard has an imaginary spinmeister! Oh NO!
Spinmeister: Oh, that guy. I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He was Joe Lieberman’s imaginary spinmeister. He’s not exactly the sharpest imaginary pencil in the imaginary box, if you know what I mean.
Me: But…their imaginary spinmeister said that this will all just blow over if they wait it out.
Spinmeister: And that strategy worked soooo well for Lieberman. Listen, this thing is just getting started. It’s only two weeks old. And already there are grumblings among the Blackboard building blocks community that they shouldn’t be contributing code and ideas to a company that is just going to turn around and patent them. Word is getting out. You have to give your efforts time to have their effect.
Me: So we shouldn’t care that Blackboard’s CEO isn’t answering questions about the specific nature of the patent?
Spinmeister: Oh, you should care. You should continue to turn that against him. Keep educating people about what the patent actually says. Keep circulating the plain English translations. The more people know, the more concerned that they will be about the non-answers they get from Blackboard, and the more Chasen looks like a sleazy politician.
Me: Well…OK…but…he has a mantra and everything!
Spinmeister: Chill. You have a mantra too. Repeat after me: “Chilling innovation…chilling innovation…chilling innovation”…”anti-competitive…anti-competitive…anti-competitive”. The people that Blackboard is trying to spin mostly have PhD’s. They’re not stupid. And they understand how innovation happens through a collegial environment of collaborative research. If you can connect the dots for them so that they don’t have to do a lot of their own digging to understand the basic issues, they will do the right thing.
Me: What about his point that “no institutions or organizations with any clout has taken a stand” on the issue yet? Shouldn’t we be concerned about that?
Spinmeister: That may be the only accurate statement that my imaginary colleague made. Yes, institutions will need to step up. But he’s wrong to think that it won’t happen. The New York Times didn’t rush in to endorse Ned Lamont the first day. The fact of the matter is that institutions move in a different time stream than bloggers. The fact that no big players have jumped in two weeks into the conflict doesn’t mean that they are going to sit on the sidelines. Trust me, help is on the way. You just need to hang in there and keep getting your message out.
Me: Well, I admit this is all very comforting. But are you sure you’re right?
Spinmeister: Have I ever steered you wrong?
Me: Um…actually, we’ve never spoken before. Plus, you’re a figment of my imagination.
Spinmeister: You have a point there. But really, you’re OK. The community is on the right track and will prevail. Just take a deep breath, have a beer, and keep steady.
Me: You’re right. We’ll hang in there. Thanks.
Spinmeister: Hey, that’s why you pay me the big imaginary bucks.
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A Good Visual Analysis of the Blackboard Patent Claims
Al Essa has taken my translation of the patent claims to the next level. It’s a very clear, useful, and succinct explanation of just what the patent says Blackboard is claiming to have invented. I don’t think it can be boiled down any simpler than this.
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Blackboard, Copyright, and Patents
Al Essa has a great post up that covers the basic differences between a copyright and a patent as well as laying the groundwork for a dissection of Blackboard’s claims (presumably forthcoming). In the meantime, I am in the process of translating the 44 claims in their patent into plain English. When you see what they are actually claiming to have invented, you will be well and truly gobsmacked. I’ll post it as soon as some colleagues who are smarter than I am have proofread it for me.