Riina Vuorikari - Patents and e-learning do not make a good match - what’s “Blackboard Inc. vs. Desire2Learn” gotta do with the EU?

Here, via Stephen Downes, is a post by Riina Vuorikari with a European angle on software patents in general and e-learning-related software patents in particular. Riina's “Money spent on software patent and defending against litigation would be better spent on development, education and training” is brought into sharp relief by Blackboard Inc. and Desire2Learn having spent between them well over USD 10m on bringing and defending the infringement claim. So far. I do not know what the "gearing" is between vendor and user spending on lawyers, risk avoidance etc, but I am certain that the fact of the patent dispute has led to a large number of user organisations incurring unwanted management and legal costs; and not just in the US. For example on answering questions like "if we choose this VLE, what risks to do we run that the vendor will go out of business?"; "if we use an open source product, are we at risk of legal action?". At the heart of this is a specific kind of market failure, in which  "maximizing value for shareholders" conflicts with the general good;  and whilst the US patent system might encourage and enable technological progress generally, it fails in relation to software.