E-learning patent showdown in the future?

Two patents, two important technologies: streaming and web applets. One of the patent bad guys is my own institution, University of California. From The Age in a story, "The harsh reality of royalties":

Two cases in the United States this year highlight a dilemma which over the next decade could redraw the IT industry map. One is the upholding of a patent filed by the University of California, with an award for $US520 million ($A700 million) in royalties. This was for embedded applets in webpages and is still under appeal. The other case involves an intellectual property (IP) company hitting US universities with royalty claims for using streaming video, even though no action has been taken since their first patent was filed - back in 1992.

Posted by joebeone at Diciembre 17, 2003 08:59 AM