The following posts copied from Alfred Essa's blog at http://
tatler.typepad.com/ may be of interest:
EFF: Patent Busting Project
I have contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to see if we can
get the Blackboard Patent listed under the Patent Busting Project. If any
readers have connections to the EFF, let's get this on their radar.
The Patent Busting Project provides a great vehicle for mounting a
systematic legal challenge to bogus patents:
"Once it has identified some of the worst offenders, EFF will begin filing
challenges to each in the form of a “re-examination request” to the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office. These requests create a forum to affirmatively
invalidate patents rather than forcing technology users to await the threat
of suit. Under this procedure, EFF can choose particularly egregious
patents, submit the prior art it has collected, and argue that the patent
should be revoked. EFF will collaborate with members of the software and
Internet communities as well as legal clinics and pro bono cooperating
attorneys to help in these efforts."
and from Micahel Feldstein's blog at http://mfeldstein.com/
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.
---
I hope that they will be more comprehensible than the patent itself where
the claims seem so vague as to include using username and password to
authenticate people.
regards
Tom.
Tom Franklin
Franklin Consulting
9 Redclyffe Road
Withington
Manchester
M20 3JR
email: [log in to unmask]
phone: 0161 434 3454
mobile: 07989 948 221
web: http://www.franklin-consulting.co.uk/
blog: http://tomfranklin.blogspot.com/
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