"Issues arising from the Blackboard Case". A one hour Educause web-seminar at 18.00 UK time on 29 May

Depending on your plans (if in the UK) for Thursday evening, this free Educause web seminar looks worth joining. Summary:

"The dispute between Blackboard and Desire2Learn over patenting course management software has highlighted a variety of questions about patents and patent enforcement in higher education. What role should patents play in academia’s highly collaborative, not-for-profit, revenue-strapped environment? As both producers and consumers of patented inventions, higher education has interests both diverse and deep. In this session, a respected patent litigator and leading CIO will explore key areas of patent law and discuss higher education's options and opportunities."

The seminar title gives you the impression that the event may focus overly on "Blackboard v. Desire2Learn", even if that is not the intention of the presenters. What I am hoping for is a strong focus on more general issues, such as:

• patents being secured and then commercially exploited "on the back of" either publicly funded work, or dispersed collaborative effort;
• the adverse impact of software patents on innovation, and the way they can strengthen monopoly;
• the range of policy stances that are open to individual organisations (universities and businesses).

If you cannot join the seminar you should be able to review the recording of the event subsequently.