[Ecommerce] Company claims patent over online testing
Jeff Williams
jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Wed Mar 31 17:43:19 2004
Joe and all,
Yes I read this yesterday.. But thanks anyway...
In any event this does not justify a claim on ALL online testing
techniques or methods as the claiment is suggesting...
Joseph Lorenzo Hall wrote:
> You might all be interested in this reply to this story...
> unsuprisingly, there appears to be much prior art:
>
> http://politechbot.com/pipermail/politech/2004-March/000563.html
>
> Joe
>
> On Wed, 31 Mar 2004, Jeff Williams wrote:
>
> > Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:17:30 -0800
> > From: Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>
> > To: James Love <james.love@cptech.org>
> > Cc: ecommerce <ecommerce@venice.essential.org>, jhall@sims.berkeley.edu,
> > joehall@pobox.com, dave@farber.net
> > Subject: Re: [Ecommerce] Company claims patent over online testing
> >
> > Jamie and all,
> >
> > Yes this was reported yesterday on Slashdot. But thank you for again
> > spreading the information Jamie..
> >
> > Indeed this sort of silly nonsense is beyond cognitive reasoning
> > IMHO...
> >
> > James Love wrote:
> >
> > > -------- Original Message --------
> > > Subject: chron of higher ed: patent on online testing
> > > Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 07:36:36 -0800 (PST)
> > > From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <jhall@sims.berkeley.edu>
> > > Reply-To: joehall@pobox.com
> > > To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>, Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
> > >
> > > >From the issue dated March 26, 2004
> > >
> > > <http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i29/29a03101.htm>
> > >
> > > ## Company Claims to Own Online Testing
> > >
> > > A patent holder demands fees from colleges that use a common tool
> > > of distance education
> > >
> > > ### By DAN CARNEVALE
> > >
> > > When Regis University put some of its courses online in the 1990s,
> > > officials there figured that it was a no-brainer to administer tests
> > > online as well. And so they did.
> > >
> > > Last fall, however, they received a threatening letter from Test
> > > Central Inc., which holds a patent on various types of online
> > > testing. The company claims that Regis and other colleges may be
> > > infringing on that patent and, if so, must pay thousands of dollars
> > > to continue offering tests online.
> > >
> > > Ellen K. Waterman, director of distance learning at the Denver
> > > institution, says she was stunned to see that somebody claimed to own
> > > the rights to online testing itself. The patent claims made by Test
> > > Central are so broad, she says, that they seem to cover any type of
> > > testing in cyberspace.
> > >
> > > "It's very, very general," she says. "If you can patent anything that
> > > people do on the Web, we are not protected at all."
> > >
> > > But Test Central officials see things differently. They say that the
> > > patent does not necessarily cover all online testing and that they
> > > are entitled to be paid fees by any college conducting testing that
> > > is covered. And if they suspect a college of infringing on the
> > > patent, they may take the college to court.
> > >
> > > "There are many organizations out there who have made a ton of money
> > > off of the technology that we've got a patent on," says James J.
> > > Posch, chief executive officer of Test Central and of its parent
> > > company, Test.com. "Our concern is that other people are profiting at
> > > our expense."
> > >
> > > Some of the colleges that received letters from Test Central, based
> > > in Cleveland, have not yet decided how to respond, while others -- as
> > > well as companies that also provide online-testing tools to colleges
> > > -- plan to fight back.
> > >
> > > Test Central's letters went out to an undetermined number of colleges
> > > soon after another technology company, Acacia, put colleges and
> > > businesses on notice that they might be violating its patent on
> > > streaming video technology ( The Chronicle, November 7).
> > >
> > > Together, the two companies' claims have led college officials to
> > > worry that many more companies could make their own claims to
> > > ownership of Internet processes. Such claims, the educators say,
> > > could threaten the viability of distance-education programs.
> > >
> > > "This is like Pandora's box has opened," says Sally Johnstone,
> > > executive director of the Western Cooperative for Educational
> > > Telecommunications of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher
> > > Education, or WICHE. "Everybody thinks they can get a piece of the
> > > action because they had an idea at one time."
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > Joseph Lorenzo Hall, SIMS PhD Student; UC Berkeley.
> > > [web:<http://pobox.com/~joehall/>, blog:<http://pobox.com/~joehall/nqb>]
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Ecommerce mailing list
> > > Ecommerce@lists.essential.org
> > > http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/ecommerce
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > --
> > Jeffrey A. Williams
> > Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
> > "Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
> > Pierre Abelard
> >
> > "If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
> > liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
> > P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
> > United States v. Carroll Towing (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
> > ===============================================================
> > Updated 1/26/04
> > CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
> > IDNS. div. of Information Network Eng. INEG. INC.
> > E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
> > Registered Email addr with the USPS
> > Contact Number: 214-244-4827
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Joseph Lorenzo Hall, SIMS PhD Student; UC Berkeley.
> [web:<http://pobox.com/~joehall/>, blog:<http://pobox.com/~joehall/nqb>]
>
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Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
Pierre Abelard
"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
===============================================================
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
IDNS. div. of Information Network Eng. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Registered Email addr with the USPS
Contact Number: 214-244-4827