EFF: Internet Test-Taking Patent Draws Official Suspicion

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From: EFF Press <press () eff org>
Date: May 18, 2006 4:03:38 PM EDT
To: presslist () eff org
Subject: [E-B] EFF: Internet Test-Taking Patent Draws Official Suspicion
Reply-To: press () eff org

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 18, 2006

Contact:

Jason Schultz
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   jason () eff org
   +1 415 436-9333 x112

Internet Test-Taking Patent Draws Official Suspicion

EFF Wins Second Reexamination from Patent Office

San Francisco - At the request of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
(PTO) will reexamine a controversial patent for online
test-taking from Test.com.  The reexamination order is the
second granted in just two months after petitions from
EFF's Patent Busting Project.

EFF filed the reexamination request because the extremely
broad patent claims to cover almost all methods of online
testing.  Test.com has used this patent to demand payments
from universities with distance education programs that
give tests online.  But EFF, in conjunction with Theodore
C. McCullough of the Lemaire Patent Law Firm, showed that
Test.com was not the first to come up with this testing
method -- IntraLearn Software Corporation had been
marketing an online test-taking system long before Test.com
filed its patent request.

"Bogus patents like these are hurting innovation and
education in America," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason
Schultz, who heads up the project.  "This is a perfect
example of how the patent system is broken and what needs
to be fixed."

Test.com now has the opportunity to file comments defending
the patent, and then the PTO will determine whether to
invalidate the patent.  The PTO has narrowed or revoked
roughly 70% of patents it has decided to reexamine.

The successful reexamination request for the Test.com
patent is the latest big victory for EFF's Patent Busting
Project, which combats the chilling effects bad patents
have on the public interest and innovation.  The first
reexamination request was granted in April and involves a
Clear Channel patent for a system and method of creating
recordings of live performances, locking musical acts into
using Clear Channel technology and blocking innovations by
others.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the
eBay patent case, signaling how important patent issues are
in today's economy.  In a unanimous decision, justices
overturned a dangerous injunction rule that threatened free
speech and consumers' rights -- following the reasoning
outlined in an amicus brief from EFF.  Four justices also
joined in a concurring opinion questioning so-called
"patent trolls" and business methods patents, which could
foreshadow future intellectual property showdowns in the
nation's highest court.

For the full reexamination order:
http://www.eff.org/patent/wanted/test/test_com_reexam_order.pdf

For more information about the Test.com patent reexamination:
http://www.eff.org/patent/wanted/patent.php?p=test

For more on the Patent Busting Project:
http://www.eff.org/patent/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_05.php#004682

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


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