It may interest you all to know that under the BromCom (sorry, Frontline Technology) patent, you will now be asked to pay licence fees if your school uses wireless networks to access student data: My favourite quote from their FAQ is the one about if you use a spreadsheet saved over wireless to collect student grades you should pay licence fees... See www.frontline-technology.com for more info. If you have good press contacts, connections with networking companies or lawyer friends, let them know. I for one do not appreciate being told I can't use a wireless network (in my house, school, company...) and look at information about students I'm otherwise legally entitled to without paying someone money. Regards Chris Puttick
On Wed, 20 Feb 2002, Chris Puttick wrote:
To really take this seriously, shouldn't any school that might use a WAN to access student records get written assurance from whoever provides its telecoms (e.g. BT, NTL) that its data will never be routed over radio? This is a sad example of an `invention' that simply ignores sound design; it really shouldn't matter how the data is moved. It's as silly as patenting file transfer over ISDN. Bob G
Depending on how much you want to twist the definition of "radio" you can have this apply to wired ethernet (most of the CSMA/CD protocols were worked out of a radio based system originally) or you can have this apply to any fibre optic or microwave links.
This is a sad example of an `invention' that simply ignores sound design; it really shouldn't matter how the data is moved. It's as silly as
No doubt at the root of the problem is a patent system which allows patents on things the examiner dosn't understand. Rather than a rule of the form "if the initial application isn't in plain English then this entity is now in the public domain".
patenting file transfer over ISDN.
-- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763
Hi all So, as a Bromcom user who has recently installed a small wireless network (using netgear components) to give access from our demountable huts to the school network, which also happens to be used for registering pupils using bromcoms winfolder software, am I infringing a patent? Interesting, who patented wireless ethernet technology - not frontline and not bromcom thats for sure! Secondly, did frontline patent a system that is slightly more effective at data transfer tha a damp piece of string? because that's how effective our bromcom system is...... As far as I can see using my home designed database to gather pupil data via an ethernet wireless network is not infringing thier patents - at the very least my system does work and not fall flat on it's backside when more than two people try to use it! is it me or is the world going round the bend (maybe frontline are 'flushed' with thier success?)..... Alan Chris Puttick wrote:
it seems that BromCom tried to patent this student data/wireless transfer starting in the early nineties (i remember something during my early days at NCET circa 94), they failed. went to Australia, succeded. there is serious consortia in the process of sorting out this mess :-) Malc On Wed, 2002-02-20 at 22:45, aeh1962 wrote:
Malcolm Herbert Red Hat Europe t: +44 1483 734955 m: +44 7720 079845 --------------------------------------
participants (5)
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aeh1962 -
Chris Puttick -
Malcolm Herbert -
Mark Evans -
Robert J Gautier