[8716] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Patenting Multimedia
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tansin A. Darcos & Company)
Wed Dec 1 13:26:46 1993
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1993 13:23:12 -0500 (EST)
From: "Tansin A. Darcos & Company" <0005066432@mcimail.com>
Reply-To: "Tansin A. Darcos & Company" <0005066432@mcimail.com>
To: com-priv@psi.com
>From: Paul Robinson <TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
-----
>From the CNI Copyright list <cni-copyright@cni.org>:
Date: Mon Nov 29, 1993 5:44 am EST
>From: cni copyright <cni-copyright@cni.org>
TO: Multiple recipients of list <cni-copyright@cni.org>
Subject: Patenting Multimedia
Hi All,
No doubt you guys on the early side of the international date line have
already picked this up, but I was given a printout yesterday detailing the
announcement by Compton's Encyclopedia Inc., that they have patented the
concepts behind multimedia. That would be `boot up a program, click on a
text, see highlighted word, click on it, see picture and hear speech
attached to that word'. ...The CEO of their new subsidiary, Compton
Multimedia says that they aren't trying to stifle Multimedia, and they
only want one percent of everyone's product cost as a royalty..... Now,
that's pretty scary, especially for those institutions, like mine, which
are in the multimedia development business, but it gets worse:
Optical Data Corp. has announcece that _they_ have taken out a patent
entitled "Interactive Method for the Effective Conveyance of Information
in the Form of Visual Images". This patent covers the following process:
1. Turning on a video storage device, such as a video disc player or
CD-ROM, which contains a disc with video images stored therein.
2. A teacher selects specific portions of the disk to convey images to
students in response to oral questions.
3. The teacher gives an oral lesson which corresponds to the video
portion of the lecture.
4. The teacher accesses other portions of the disc in response to new
student questions, either by fast-forward, reverse, or slow play.
They have also taken out a second patent entitled "Curriculum Planning and
Publishing Method" which covers organising and establishing a curriculum
from a library of information, possibly but NOT NECESSARILY stored on a
CD-ROM or videodisc. It includes selecting portions of the information
contained in the library, organising the information into a lesson for
students, and then coding the lesson plan so that it can be selectively
played back to students.
OK, when I read this, I checked the calendar, and made sure it wasn't
April 1st, and then checked further and made sure it wasn't Halloween, and
then I realised that I also knew absolutely nothing about US Patent Law,
and very little about Australian Patent Law as well.
Howsomever, it all seems very restrictive, and I'm extremely puzzled by
the granting of patents on what seem to me to be standard operating
procedures. Will we get to the stage of paying a royalty every time we
click on a Windows icon? I have to go now, I'm off to the Patents
Office...I've got a couple of things to patent...one's a geometrical
figure called a circle, and the other's a procedure. You take a drinking
glass of the shelf, turn on the tap, fill the glass with water, then drink
it. Should go well.
Anyone, like to enlighten me on the above (serious) issues?
Cheers, Mike
Mike Lean, University Copyright Officer
and Audiovisual Production Coordinator
at QUT (Queensland University of Technology)in sunny Brisbane, Australia.
AARnet:lean@qut.edu.au telephone:0011 61 7 864 3383
"Never try to outstubborn a cat." Robert A. Heinlein.
Disclaimer: Opinions bilong mi tasol! Em tasol!
